Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), the main agency in charge of the provision of emergency services in the country has formed an advisory panel to review the regulatory authority on cladding, the covering on the surface to provide thermal insulation.
SCDF announced on February 1, Thursday that the Cladding Regulatory Regime Review Advisory Panel will provide feedbacks and required assistance in their implementation. The panel will have 13 members to be selected from different government agencies, certification bodies, the building industry and academia.
The panel will review the safety measures, regulations and certification processes, which is related to the use of Aluminum Composite Panels (ACPs) as cladding. After reviewing the situation, the panel will release its results by the end of 2018.
SCDF has identified few buildings which may have unsafe cladding in September 2017. The reason for taking such action is the outbreak of a fire at 30 Toh Guan Road in May 2017. The fire in the industrial area killed a 54-year-old woman beside causing local damage.
In December 2017, SCDF has already said that there are 17 buildings which have completed the removal of cladding from their external walls. But there are other 17 buildings which are still under process.
There are several cases in which SCDF went to the location and evacuated it. Recently, when an 18-year-old girl rushed to alert her neighbours after a sudden fire broke out in a flat in Hougang, the firefighters of the city took immediate action and rescued the injured people.
On January 25, when a fire broke out in a well-known restaurant called Ban Heng in Boon Keng road, SCDF went to the location and started the investigation immediately. The same happened in Tampines Street 83 fire case, where SCDF took control of the fire by using water jets.
