Real-time lift
management system to be launched across PAP town
councils
SINGAPORE: As part of efforts to improve lift safety and
reliability, a dashboard management system jointly developed by
town councils managed by the People's Action Party (PAP) is
expected to be launched later this month.
The PAP Town Councils’ coordinating chairman Teo Ho Pin said the
system will enable a faster response to problems, as the system
allows real-time access to the performance of 23,000 lifts managed
by its 15 town councils. Around 34 per cent of these lifts are 18
years and older.
"We’re putting a lot of attention and resources on lifts, and that
is the reason why we have set up this dashboard management system,
so that we are able to track every single lift – right down to the
individual lift, which location, how is the performance of the
lift, which is the maintenance team that's servicing the lift,”
said Dr Teo.
With the real-time information, town councils will be able to
respond faster if anyone is trapped in the lifts, he added.
The new system comes on the back of a string of lift-related
injuries in recent years, with the PAP setting up a lift taskforce
last July to review the maintenance of lifts in public estates
under its watch. One of its recommendations included the
development of a centralised system to monitor lift
performance.
One town council that welcomes the new monitoring system is
Jurong-Clementi Town Council, which has more than 2,100 lifts in
its estate, out of which almost 20 per cent are 16 years and
older.
"We can learn from other town councils through this dashboard and
it’s a lot more sharing among the different town councils," said
Jurong-Clementi Town Council Chairman Ang Wei Neng. "Currently when
you have a major incident, they will share it in our monthly
meeting. But this dashboard is probably live and you can know
information quite instantly.”
In February, the town council also appointed a lift specialist
team, comprising a lift engineer and three technicians. The team is
tasked with monitoring lift contractors and testing the performance
of its lifts, checking up to six lifts daily.
"In the past it was a shared resource among different town
councils, managed by the same managing agent," said Mr Ang. "It’s
only when they’re available that they’ll come to our town council
and scrutinise the work of the lift company.
"But now almost every single major work that the lift companies are
undertaking, we will require our team of specialists to go down and
work with them, know what they’re doing and scrutinise that they’re
doing up to our specifications.”
The Jurong-Clementi town council has also set aside S$20 million
for the monitoring and servicing of lifts in the estate – around a
third of the town council’s total revenue.
"We’re quite fortunate in the last few months there were no major
incidents, and especially after Feb 1 when we invested in this lift
specialist team, things are getting better,” said Mr Ang.
“But we’re not sitting on our laurels and we’re not taking things
for granted. So we’re still scrutinising the lift maintenance
efforts that the lift companies are putting in,” he added.
LIFT MANAGEMENT IN NEW HOUSING PROJECTS
The PAP Town Councils is also working with the Housing and
Development Board (HDB) to develop a set of protocols to better
manage and monitor lifts, particularly in new housing projects,
said Dr Teo.
"For new flats, especially Build-To-Order (BTO) flats, during the
first two years of residents moving in, there will be a lot of
moving activities. Normally you find that the lifts are commonly
damaged through these activities,” he said.
"So we have worked with HDB to see how we can better manage the new
lifts within the first two years, how do we standby our lift
maintenance … so that we can respond faster to restore the lifts to
its functionality, plus also to rescue any residents trapped in the
lifts," he said.
HDB has also installed closed-circuit television cameras in new
BTO projects, required builders and renovation contractors to wear
uniforms for easy identification, and is holding dialogues with
residents and contractors.
The efforts are on top of the Government's help to prepare all 16
town councils for longer-term lift expenditures.
These include a S$450 million Lift Enhancement Programme to help
town councils co-fund the costs of retrofitting older lifts with
safety features, a Lift Maintenance Grant giving S$600 for every
lift to help them cope with servicing and maintenance costs, and
more than S$50 million to match half of what town councils must
contribute to the Lift Replacement Fund, which can be utilised for
specific lift works.
In total, town councils will receive more than S$100 million of
additional funding a year.
Source: CNA/cy