Real estate is a people business. At Frasers Property Singapore, the safety of our employees, visitors, shoppers, tenants, and contractors are of paramount importance. Guided by our Purpose – Inspiring experiences, creating places for good. – we actively promote health, wellbeing, and safety of our people. In fostering a culture that prioritises health and safety, we involve employees in coming up with novel solutions to continuously improve our workplace safety and health practices.

The teams from Frasers Tower, Hougang Mall, Parc Greenwich, Tampines 1 and Tiong Bahru Plaza did exactly that, ideating and delivering ground-up solutions that went beyond standard safety measures. Here’s a look at the creative solutions implemented by the teams.

Tampines 1 – Singapore’s first magnetic bollards for escalators

It is not uncommon to see prams and trolleys on escalators. This poses a safety risk to users of the escalator, when the wheels from the prams and trolleys get stuck, causing the escalator to stop suddenly which may result in falls. Recognising these safety risks, the team at Tampines 1 sought to enhance escalator safety by installing magnetic bollards. These bollards can be placed nearer to the escalator landing, reducing the likelihood of those using prams and trolleys from getting past the bollards and onto the escalator.

The magnetic bollard is the first of its kind in Singapore and the team worked with Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to pilot the bollards at Tampines 1 for six months. To complement the bollards, signages are placed near the escalators to redirect shoppers with prams and trolleys to the lifts, and remind them on safe use of escalators. Over this period, the bollards had proven to reduce the incidences of shoppers using their prams and trolleys on escalators in the mall by approximately 50 per cent, effectively preventing escalator-related injuries.

Tiong Bahru Plaza – Enhancing safety in the chiller plant room 

When conducting daily inspections for water seepage at the chiller plant room with a double-volume ceiling soffit, our technicians at Tiong Bahru Plaza can now conveniently and safely monitor for water seepage from ground level by installing a CCTV camera in that area. This reduces the need to work from height.

To further enhance electrical safety in the chiller plant room, the team also installed an acrylic screen in between the pumps and electrical boards to protect the electrical boards from potential exposure to water in the event of a leak.

Hougang Mall – Improving access for maintenance works

Improving access to back of house area is key in ensuring safer and more efficient maintenance works. Our team at Hougang Mall identified two areas where access can be improved – kitchen waste pipe and ejector pit room.

The team improvised a solution to address the former approach of crossing over a double-volume space to access the kitchen waste pipes. They installed a stronger and more secured platform, and installed additional lighting to promote greater visibility. The new working platform also supports a heavier working load limit of up to 270kg, which facilitates a buddy working system and promotes a safe collaboration for staff and contractors when servicing kitchen waste pipes.

At the ejector pit room, our maintenance team replaced a long cat ladder with two shorter ladders fitted with an intermediate platform. This intermediate platform allows our maintenance team to transport their equipment and tools safely and more efficiently when carrying out maintenance works.  

Frasers Tower – Creating a safer work environment with safety fencing nets and secured scaffolding

The team at Frasers Tower saw an opportunity to further enhance the safety of their work area where there are non-load bearing panels. While the area has already been cordoned off with railings and signages, the team decided to increase the visibility of this area by installing safety fencing nets to cover the entire area above these non-load bearing panels.

The team also customised and built a secured scaffolding so that our technicians and contractors can better carry out maintenance and inspection works at the chiller plant room. The secured scaffolding is endorsed by a professional engineer. It is bolted to the ground and fitted with safety railings and a safety gate. This offers more structural support and stability for the maintenance team to carry out their work.

Parc Greenwich – Additional safety measures when working on site

To make the lifting of prefabricated units safer for our contractors at the site of Parc Greenwich, our residential development which is currently undergoing construction, the team employed a hoisting frame with an additional lifting belt that loops around the prefabricated unit. This additional lifting belt works as a failsafe in the event the chains holding up the unit break.

As an additional layer of safety, all workers working at heights are equipped with a vertical retractable lifeline with a built-in fall arrest system that can break the workers’ descent in the event of a fall. The lifeline is regularly maintained, and replaced every six months to ensure that it is always in good working condition. These implemented measures go above and beyond prevailing safety regulations.

As a testament of their efforts, Parc Greenwich received the Safety and Health Award Recognition for Projects (SHARP) accolade by the Workplace Safety and Health Council. The award seeks to recognise large-scale projects or worksites that have achieved exemplary safety and health performance, and workplace safety and health management systems. As at mid-August 2023, Parc Greenwich has achieved over 1.8 million man hours with no major or minor injuries since the project started works in October 2020.

---

As an organisation, we are committed to provide a safe and healthy work environment for our employees and stakeholders. By instilling our culture of care and leveraging the experiences of our staff, we empower our employees to play a key role to inspire one another and foster collaborative thinking to encourage workplace innovation. This paves the way for a safer, healthier, and more productive workplace.