How to keep it safe when upgrading residential lifts

I REFER to last Thursday's report, Solution for 'half-landings'. A resident raised concerns on the lift landing being separated from the staircase. He reportedly said: 'If there's a fire or lift breakdown, people would be trapped.'

HDB officials responded by saying that these issues (including privacy and security issues) were taken into consideration in the new design. They highlighted that 'emergency buttons at lift landings allow residents to call for assistance in case of any emergency or lift breakdown'.

With the additional measures, I agree that the privacy concern has been addressed to a certain extent. However, I do not see how the fire safety concern has been addressed.

The upgraded lift landing is an enclosed area which is accessible only to the two households on each level (that is, with no connecting stairway). Should a fire occur on the lift landing, a third party who is on the lift landing (without access to any of the two households) might not have an alternative route of escape for the following reasons:

- It is not advisable to use the lift in case of fire, as reminded by an oft-seen warning in the lifts.

- The third party could see if anyone in the two households is at home and kind enough to allow him to enter and exit by another doorway which allows access to the stairs. (Instinctively, it could also pose a danger to residents who invite strangers into their home).

- Even if the residents would have been kind enough to allow strangers to pass through their home, what if no one is at home?

Would the third party need to wait to be rescued by firemen or be burned to death, just because there was no connecting stairway from the lift landing?

The presence of a third party on the lift landing is highly probable when relatives or friends pay residents a surprise visit, salesmen pitch their wares door to door, or even residents may get out of the lift at the wrong level.

A simple solution to address the safety concern could be to extend the lift landing by half a flight of stairs down to the existing stairs. This does not require a substantial overhaul of the original design and provides residents with more security and convenience.

I also would like to inquire how the emergency button at these new lift landings works. Is it connected to an emergency hotline, 24 hours a day, seven days a week? Or is the hotline manned only during office hours? I have found calls to the hotline number provided for lift maintenance (current lifts) going unanswered. If this is the case, how does this safeguard residents, especially during an emergency?

Lem Gim Cheng (Ms)