Stiffer Rules Proposed To Improve Safety At Worksites

Source : The Strait Times, 28 August 2007

THREE years after the Nicoll Highway collapse, the Government is mooting a host of changes to the Building Control Act to raise construction quality and safety standards.

The Building Control (Amendment) Bill, which was introduced in Parliament yesterday, seeks to license all building contractors as well as those doing specialised structural work.

Currently, only those who work on government projects need to to be registered with the Building and Construction Authority.

Major underground work, as well as temporary earth-retaining structures used in excavations, will be more strictly regulated.

Under the proposed Bill, temporary structures will be treated like permanent ones and will require approval before they are built.

Builders will need to have special staff supervising structural work and independent parties will be needed to check designs and supervise or monitor work as well.

Some parties who breach the Building Control Act will face stiffer fines while developers will be legally bound to report a builder for violating rules.

The changes were spurred by the 2004 collapse of the Nicoll Highway, which occurred during tunnelling work on the MRT Circle Line. Four people were killed.

In the same Bill, the Government is also seeking to require facility owners to maintain disabled-friendly features after they are built.

This would mean, for example, that they will not be allowed to use a public toilet meant for the disabled as a storeroom.

This is a common complaint among wheelchair users now.

The ministry is also laying the groundwork for minimum standards on environmental sustainability in construction. This would require a minimum level of energy efficiency of buildings, among other things.

The proposed changes will be discussed in a future session of Parliament.