5 Malls in S’pore Had Such Serious COVID-19 Measures, They’ve Breached Fire Safety Rules

2020-08-26 , 1:54 pm

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Safe distancing measures and wearing masks have become a part of daily life.

Much like us, shopping malls have COVID-19 safety measures too.

Queue a few feet apart, safe entry check-ins and temperature taking are one’s we’re all quite familiar with.

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Still, some malls forget that regular safety measures shouldn’t be overlooked.

Breaching Safety Rules

These could have potentially been life-threatening if anything had happened.

According to Today Online, five shopping malls were found to have breached fire safety rules.

And how did they do it? By padlocking several exits.

According to the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF), this happened after control measures were rolled out for shopping malls.

SCDF had completed 4,425 checks at various premises as of July 31, including at 113 malls.

One of the malls included was People’s Park Centre but the other four malls were kept unnamed.

Actually, please tell me so I can kiasu a bit and avoid them.

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Not only the shoppers but the shopowners as well.

Both parties feel that there should be more emergency signs should the usual exits be blocked.

This came after several malls blocked off multiple exits while only leaving a few open on the ground floor.

One shopper at Ion aid that there should be signs indicating if the shuttered entrances in the mall can be used as an exit during an emergency.

No indication on the doors stated that they would open automatically if the fire alarm goes off either.

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Well, then Ion…

By right, malls and big standalone stalls that exceed 930 sqm in gross floor area can hold only one person for every 10 sqm.

But SCDF also mentioned that other safety evacuation measures must go alongside the safe distancing rules too:

Restricted entry and exit points must have doors that can be automatically unlocked to allow evacuation once fire alarms are triggered.

Exits with barricades must be easily removable in case of emergencies.

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Lastly, broadcast ASAP where all exits are should an emergency occur.

Still, not everything is doom and gloom. A few places have actually put in place great measures.

People’s Park Centre has rescinded their padlocks and the closed exits can now be unlocked.

Though a taped up sliding door still remains to show any indication if it can be used.

Plaza Singapura also had locked doors that showed it would open upon an emergency.

Even schools like Ngee Ann Polytechnic have taken a similar approach, with unlockable barricades and emergency signs.

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We can only hope that other malls who have not kept up to speed can put these measures in place, as well.