Minister: S’pore is Going to Introduce New Laws to Improve Standard of Hygiene

As the ongoing epidemic looks set to become a mainstay for the next few months (at the very least), Singapore has pulled out all the plugs to ensure the nation’s continued survival amid critical changes to our lifestyle.

And while some are relatively subtle, others are based off a broader scale…

With the goal of getting Singapore to become “cleaner” being one.

Minister: S’pore is Going to Introduce New Laws to Improve Standard of Hygiene

According to Mothership, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) is currently prioritising the notion of getting Singapore “cleaner”.

“Proper hygiene, control over the vector, clean sanitation, quality water, safer food, these are all important basic necessities in life that we shouldn’t take for granted,” said Environment Minister Grace Fu in a media session on 21 August.

Apparently, the ongoing epidemic has raised the importance of public hygiene, and as such will give way to new legislation within the next three to six months, that will serve to improve the standards of hygiene and sanitation in Singapore.

Amendments to the Environmental Public Health Act may also be made, in order to raise hygiene standards in areas with more vulnerable users.

Such locations include childcare centres and eldercare facilities.

Hygiene standards of food preparation in such areas could also be targeted.

Cleaners

Amid the current epidemic, Fu has also highlighted the vulnerability of cleaners.

She noted that as cleaners at hawker centres are still generally expected to clear people’s leftovers, they are in considerable need of protection.

“But actually Covid-19 has taught us also that in order to protect our frontline workers, the cleaners that are really keeping the frontline of the Covid-19 transmission, we should look after their interest and their health,” she said.

“Because for them to come across soiled tissue and used mask at the hawker centre, it’s really not fair to them.

“That’s not a job hazard that they have bargained for.”

As such, Fu expressed a hope that people can be kinder and practice more consideration, and make individual efforts to keep their surroundings clean.

Previously, authorities have warned that the guidelines could be made into rules if not enough people follow them.

More SG Clean ambassadors will also be brought in to encourage such behaviour, though Fu has emphasised that the notion will not put the elderly out of their jobs.

On the contrary, she said, there is a plethora of cleaning jobs in other industries, and finding enough people to work as cleaners is actually the problem.

“So how do we do more, raise the standard of hygiene and level of cleanliness, with lesser pairs of boots on the ground so to speak,” she said.

“That’s really the challenge for the ministry and for NEA. So something that will keep us occupied for some time.”

And so, in a nutshell, it seems that Singapore will be placing greater focus on its hygiene standards and that citizens will be vital to making that notion a successful one. And it’s certainly a positive point, considering how the ongoing epidemic thrives on the lack of hygiene standards.

As such, I hope that everyone will be able to partake in this latest venture. True, the government may not always be correct, but when it is…

I think we should comply accordingly because this affects way more than just us.

It affects our families too.