Review of Fire Safety Standards for HDB Blocks and Installation of Home Fire Alarm Devices for all HDB Public Rental Flats

23 Miss Rachel Ong asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the installation of Home Fire Alarm Devices (HFAD) for all HDB public rental flats has been completed in 2021; (b) if not, what percentage of flats remain to be fitted with such devices and when will the installations be completed; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider installing HFADs for HDB 2-room Flexi flats owned by seniors.

24 Miss Rachel Ong asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry will consider (i) placing fire extinguishers along the common corridor of specified floors for each HDB block (ii) rolling out educational programmes to instruct residents on the locations and appropriate deployment of these fire extinguishers and fire hose reels in the common areas and (iii) forming a partnership with Resident Committees or Town Councils for the maintenance of the fire extinguishers in their community.

25 Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Government will review the fire safety standards of HDB blocks and flats to better mitigate the spread in the event of a fire; and (b) whether the policy on installation of fire-rated doors can be reviewed to allow more pervasive use of such doors.

26 Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether there is any update on the free installation of Home Fire Alarm Devices in public rental flats; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider extending such installations to all lower-income households or households with at least one elderly person aged 60 and above.

The Minister of State for Home Affairs (Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Mr Speaker, I will address oral Question Nos 23 to 26.

The Home Fire Alarm Device (HFAD) Assistance Scheme, which provided for free installation of HFADs for all HDB public rental flats on a non-mandatory basis, was completed in June 2021. The take-up rate as of the completion of the initiative was 75%. HDB will progressively install HFADs in the remaining 25% of public rental flats when their tenants' leases end.

The number of fires in HDB estates continues to decrease annually, and the fire fatality rate remains low. MHA does not currently intend to expand the HFAD Assistance Scheme.

Under the Fire Code, every residential unit is designed as a fire compartment to prevent the spread of fire beyond or into the unit. The Fire Code currently requires fire-rated entrance doors for residential units, except where the residential unit faces an external corridor, as such corridors have been assessed to sufficiently facilitate heat and smoke dissipation. Other fire safety requirements for residential buildings include the provision of adequate exit staircases to facilitate swift evacuation of occupants, fire engine access roads and rising mains to facilitate fire-fighting operations.

SCDF regularly reviews the Fire Code together with stakeholders from other Government agencies, industry and academia. An example of an enhancement would be a requirement for new residential buildings exceeding 24 metres in habitable height, to be provided with an apron wall or horizontal ledge on the building façade to minimise risk of vertical fire spread.

SCDF is embarking on a trial with HDB, Town Councils and Temasek Foundation to place and maintain one fire extinguisher at a lift lobby of every two HDB blocks for use by residents during fire emergencies.

SCDF has been educating residents on the use of the fire extinguisher through public engagement programmes such as the Community Emergency Preparedness Programme and Community Resilience Days. Through these platforms, SCDF encourages residents to install fire extinguishers in their premises on a voluntary basis and also shares information on the locations where hose reels can be found in the common areas.

Mr Speaker: Mr Lim Biow Chuan.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Thank you, Mr Speaker. May I ask the Minister of State for Home Affairs this question. Sir, I am sympathetic to the residents affected by hoarding. I have one such case in my own constituency. I must say that MND has been very helpful in helping to solve the hoarding issue.

However, I am asking whether the Town Councils can get better support from SCDF to carrying out an assessment of the fire safety every time there is a reported case of hoarding. And also, whether NEA can also rapidly come to make an assessment of the health risk because, otherwise, by the Town Councils themselves, it is a big difficulty to try to persuade hoarders to clear the junk in their house, which Senior Minister of State Sim Ann has said represents a health risk as well as a nuisance to their neighbours.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary question. SCDF does not assess cluttered houses or homes, in general, to be a key fire risk. That said, we understand the Member and the general public's concerns and are working closely with the inter-agency HMCG to address the issue.

Mr Speaker: Mr Murali Pillai.

Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I ask the hon Senior Minister of State, in relation to the approach of involving a number of agencies to tackle hoarding, how would it be expressed in practice? Would the resident know which is the lead agency that would be coordinating the efforts? And how would the resident know, in relation to steps that has been taken and also, in relation to the historical matters? Because some of these cases stretch back not just months, sometimes even years. How would the residents be assured that the historical facts are all recorded and being followed through?

The Senior Minister of State for National Development (Ms Sim Ann): In response to Mr Murali's question, HMCG is a multi-agency effort. In practice, however, it would usually be the HDB officers that are interfacing with the case on the ground and it would also be the HDB officers who are interacting more frequently, for instance, with the neighbours or perhaps the grassroots' advisor, or with the Town Council or whoever has been raising the alert in the first place.

As for documentation, within HMCG, the various agencies consulted, depending on the specific details of the case, would contribute their inputs and at the HMCG level, we will be keeping a record of all the various cases. Also, I also want to take this opportunity to thank advisors, like Mr Murali, who has been following up closely with HMCG on various specific interventions.

Mr Speaker: Ms Foo Mee Har.

Ms Foo Mee Har (West Coast): Thank you, Speaker. In view of the recent spate of home fires in HDB estates, my residents have shared that they would like HDB to review the policy around fire-rated doors to mitigate the spread, in the event of a fire. The Minister of State briefly spoke about that.

Based on the prevailing Fire Code, a significant number of households having existing fire-rated doors are being offered non-fire-rated doors as replacement under the Home Improvement Programme (HIP). So, my residents are not quite convinced with the basis for the more relaxed SCDF rules. I have two supplementary questions for both Minister of State for Home Affairs as well as Senior Minister of State for National Development.

First, whether HDB and SCDF can work together to further review the requirements on fire-rated doors. Two, whether residents who prefer to keep the fire-rated doors during HIP will be offered new fire-rated doors, even though the prevailing SCDF Fire Code does not require a fire-rated door.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. I will address these. As explained in my answer earlier, the Fire Code does not require entrance doors of residential units facing external corridors to be fire rated, as such corridors facilitate heat and smoke dissipation.

The HIP offers fire-rated doors in accordance with the prevailing Fire Code. If a unit does not require fire-rated doors under the Fire Code, HDB would offer non-fire-rated doors under the HIP. We all know that. And if a unit requires a fire-rated door, HDB will offer as such. So, the resident will have the option to change his or her existing fire-rated door to a new one, at a subsidised cost.

Residents may opt to install fire-rated doors even where this is not required under the Fire Code, but this would be at their own expense, as there is a cost difference between fire-rated and non-fire-rated doors. If the Fire Code does not require fire-rated doors, this additional cost will not be covered under the HIP.

We regularly review the Fire Code and we work with Government agencies, industry players as well as academia to see how the fire safety aspects remain relevant, which facilitates how we can live together in our home in Singapore.

Mr Speaker: Mr Gerald Giam.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): Thank you, Speaker. I know that there is currently a multi-agency approach to hoarding cases and it often involves engaging volunteers to persuade the hoarders and to help clear the items. I am very grateful for the big-hearted work of these volunteers, but given that there may be urgent public health and safety issues at stake, does the Senior Minister of State agree that there is a need to deploy more trained and experienced officers to lead the engagement of the hoarders and for paid workers to help with the clearance so that it can be done more expeditiously?

Secondly, the Senior Minister of State said that just now that enforcement levers are being reviewed. What will be the scope of this review and will it involve putting more resources into dealing with this difficult problem, not just in terms of engagement, but also in terms of engaging the hoarders and their families?

Ms Sim Ann: In response to Mr Gerald Giam's questions – first, in terms of the clearance of clutter, we do work together with a variety of partners. So, yes, volunteers are very helpful in this regard but also there are professional officers who are involved. I have just mentioned in response to Mr Murali, that HDB officers are very often on the front line and they are spending their time together with MSO officers to effect the clearance of items as well. So, the key, though, is very often to obtain entry and cooperation, especially in cases where the level of cluttering or hoarding falls short of outright legal violations. This is where most of the effort is being expended.

In terms of the enforcement levers, within HMCG, we do and we will continue to work very closely first with the technical agencies, whose professional assessment we rely upon to determine whether or not a legal order can be issued. These are all covered under their respective Acts, within NEA as well as SCDF's purview. I mentioned, for instance AVS as well, and that is for a smaller subset of cases.

I think one of the ways in which we can also help the officers on the ground is for there to be more public understanding of some of the complexities of the issue. It is very often not a simple matter of pressing a button and then the decluttering will take place. The individual is very much a part of the picture and sometimes not being able to contact the individual or evasive actions taken by the individual to avoid anyone speaking with him or her, or gaining entry to his or her flat, very often that can delay action very considerably. Also, the degree to which the family members are supportive makes a very clear difference on the ground. To this end, the media reporting recently has also been, in my opinion, very helpful because I think it helps people understand a little bit better that it is something which is not so straightforward to do, but that efforts are being expended on the ground and we will continue to do so.

Mr Speaker: Ms Joan Pereira.

Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar): Thank you, Speaker. I have a supplementary question for Senior Minister of State Sim Ann. I have observed that agencies face extremely great challenges in getting our hoarders, especially those who face mental well-being issues to cooperate. Can I ask if there could be dedicated mental health or social support resources set aside for cases specifically under the Hoarding Management Framework, so that more attention can be given to resolve such cases very quickly?

Ms Sim Ann: I thank Ms Joan Pereira. On behalf of the MSO which chairs HMCG, I would like nothing better than to see more resources being devoted to this issue by all the agencies that are working with us.

However, working closely with them, we also understand that there are different professional considerations. For instance, what we have learnt from our mental health colleagues is that hoarding itself is not an illness or a condition. It is an expression of underlying conditions which can be quite varied. And therefore, in terms of dealing with the root cause, every case is different.

So, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach and actually as with quite a number of mental health conditions, it is again, not a straightforward issue of prescribing a treatment. Access to the individual, the ability to engage the individual, some awareness or response by the individual and strong support from the family members are very important, not just in terms of addressing the behavioural manifestation, in terms of the hoarding, but also whatever underlying cause could have contributed to this behaviour in the first place.

So, this is something that we will continue to work together with our colleagues from the mental health sector. Broader understanding, as I have explained earlier, would also help because then, it gives our officers more confidence on the ground as they interact with each family or household and address their responses or sometimes lack thereof in their efforts to declutter.

Mr Speaker: Mr Gan Thiam Poh.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio): Thank you, Sir. I would like to check with the Senior Minister of State: is there a time frame to the enforcement order to be taken? Some cases are very complicated; I personally have come across a resident's case – after years of trying, the hoarding issue still cannot be solved. The family members are seeking help, they are in distress that one of their family members has this habit. This poses safety concerns to the family. I just want to find out, under such circumstances, what else can as the Ministry do?

Ms Sim Ann: I thank Mr Gan. First of all, within HMCG, we already have a framework and as I have also shared with Members just now, we have managed to see progress in some of the cases. I understand that Members, especially those who have witnessed or who have been handling hoarding cases in your own wards, would also like to see more speedy resolution. This is also a goal that we share.

In terms of working together with the agencies, we will seek to have intensified ground actions because I think it is important that we do the clearance, for instance, of corridors together in a more concerted way, such that there would be first, broader understanding of the importance of clear passages; there would also be some increased understanding in hoarding and what are the factors surrounding it; and also, we hope that even for members of the public who may not be living next to someone who keeps clutter, but that, when there are actions that are ongoing, when there is some enforcement and if there is, for instance, some objections on the ground from the person who owns the clutter, we actually seek the members of the public's understanding as well, that this is something that needs to be done for the greater good.

Mr Speaker: I will take one last supplementary question. Mr Liang Eng Hwa.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Bukit Panjang): Thank you, Sir. I wanted to seek clarification from the Minister of State for Home Affairs, whether SCDF indeed have the authority to carry out enforcement or issue decluttering notices to household with excessive hoarding, especially those that pose fire risks? If yes, is the Ministry or SCDF stepping up these inspections and issuing such notices? If no, would the Ministry consider empowering SCDF with this authority so that they can ensure fire safety in our residential areas?

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary question. As I shared earlier, SCDF does not assess cluttered homes, in general, to be a key fire risk. So, at the end of the day, we have to look at the different cases. However, that said, we understand the Member's and the public's concern; and we are working closely with the inter-agency HMCG to look into the issue.