Town council sorry for lapse by cleaners
Fri, Nov 14, 2008
The Straits Times
I REFER to Mr Vincent Chee's letter on Wednesday, 'Wasting water'.
We acknowledge and apologise for the serious lapse by our cleaning workers.
Our town council takes a serious view of such dereliction of duty. We have constantly reminded our conservancy contractors to adopt good water saving practices, especially during washing. All our conservancy contractors were also instructed in writing, on Oct 17, to take immediate measures to stop water wastage. One such measure is to fit all high-pressure jet washing machines with an auto on/off control.
Soon Min Sin
General Manager
Sembawang Town Council
____________________
Wasting water
Wed, Nov 12, 2008
The Straits Times
I HOPE this episode of water wastage, Sembawang style, is not happening elsewhere. I saw it happen not once but twice. I was looking out the window of my apartment, which overlooks the multi-storey carpark at Block 476A in Sembawang Drive, on Oct 31 and noticed two workers apparently tasked with washing the carpark.
They had left two high-pressured water hoses turned on and unattended while they sat and chatted. When they spotted me watching them, they exchanged a few words, got up and walked towards the hoses and started washing the compound. Two days later, they were back at the carpark. This time, they did not see me throughout their 'cleaning' assignment, which lasted about 21/2 hours.
From about 2.45pm until they called it quits at 5.15pm, they left the high-powered water hoses turned on while they sat, chatted - and slept.
When it started to rain about 4pm, I expected them to wake up and turn off the hoses or perhaps start working on the lower floors of the carpark.
Instead, they kept on snoozing in their cubby hole of a shelter. They finally woke up when the rain subsided about an hour later, packed up the hoses and called it a day about 15 minutes later. Perhaps they told their bosses that they did not manage to finish cleaning the carpark because it rained.
I wonder how long these workers have been carrying on like this, and in how many housing estates such practices have gone unchecked.
Such an attitude is wrong, and never more so than at a time when the Government is trying hard to encourage Singaporeans to use precious resources prudently. Furthermore, stiff hikes in utility and water bills are hitting average-income citizens like me hard.
An incident like this makes me wonder if the conservancy and carpark charges residents pay are being used efficiently. How many other errant practices are there and can they collectively be checked so that the savings can go into lowering our maintenance charges?
Vincent Chee
Laspe seems to be a popular word this days! 2 less ah neh FTs in Sinkapore.
Fri, Nov 14, 2008
The Straits Times
I REFER to Mr Vincent Chee's letter on Wednesday, 'Wasting water'.
We acknowledge and apologise for the serious lapse by our cleaning workers.
Our town council takes a serious view of such dereliction of duty. We have constantly reminded our conservancy contractors to adopt good water saving practices, especially during washing. All our conservancy contractors were also instructed in writing, on Oct 17, to take immediate measures to stop water wastage. One such measure is to fit all high-pressure jet washing machines with an auto on/off control.
Soon Min Sin
General Manager
Sembawang Town Council
____________________
Wasting water
Wed, Nov 12, 2008
The Straits Times
I HOPE this episode of water wastage, Sembawang style, is not happening elsewhere. I saw it happen not once but twice. I was looking out the window of my apartment, which overlooks the multi-storey carpark at Block 476A in Sembawang Drive, on Oct 31 and noticed two workers apparently tasked with washing the carpark.
They had left two high-pressured water hoses turned on and unattended while they sat and chatted. When they spotted me watching them, they exchanged a few words, got up and walked towards the hoses and started washing the compound. Two days later, they were back at the carpark. This time, they did not see me throughout their 'cleaning' assignment, which lasted about 21/2 hours.
From about 2.45pm until they called it quits at 5.15pm, they left the high-powered water hoses turned on while they sat, chatted - and slept.
When it started to rain about 4pm, I expected them to wake up and turn off the hoses or perhaps start working on the lower floors of the carpark.
Instead, they kept on snoozing in their cubby hole of a shelter. They finally woke up when the rain subsided about an hour later, packed up the hoses and called it a day about 15 minutes later. Perhaps they told their bosses that they did not manage to finish cleaning the carpark because it rained.
I wonder how long these workers have been carrying on like this, and in how many housing estates such practices have gone unchecked.
Such an attitude is wrong, and never more so than at a time when the Government is trying hard to encourage Singaporeans to use precious resources prudently. Furthermore, stiff hikes in utility and water bills are hitting average-income citizens like me hard.
An incident like this makes me wonder if the conservancy and carpark charges residents pay are being used efficiently. How many other errant practices are there and can they collectively be checked so that the savings can go into lowering our maintenance charges?
Vincent Chee
Laspe seems to be a popular word this days! 2 less ah neh FTs in Sinkapore.
:p
:o
