Proposed dorm legislation aims to impose additional requirements
- The Straits Times (29 January 2015): Proposed dorm legislation aims to impose additional requirements
- The Straits Times (23 January 2015): Tighter rules: Why stop at large dorms?
Proposed dorm legislation aims to impose additional requirements
- The Straits Times, 29 January 2015
- We refer to the letter "Tighten rules: Why stop at large dorms?", 23 January, by Mr Tham Tuck Meng, and thank Mr Tham for supporting the Foreign Employee Dormitories Bill.
- As Mr Tham has rightly pointed out, all dormitories, regardless of size, should be well-regulated. For this reason, there already exists a comprehensive set of rules governing the living conditions of foreign workers. The areas which are regulated include building and fire safety, minimum living space, and hygiene standards. These requirements apply to all forms of foreign worker accommodation. The various government agencies such as the Building and Construction Authority, the Singapore Civil Defence Force, and National Environmental Authority are stepping up enforcement of these rules, and will review with a view to raise them over time.
- However, for the larger dormitories, it is necessary to impose additional requirements. Given their larger size and higher density of workers living within close proximity, they pose higher risks which need to be mitigated upstream during the design phase and in the operational phase. This includes requirements that cover public health and safety, security and public order, and the provision and maintenance of social and commercial facilities and services. It is for this reason that the Ministry of Manpower introduced the Foreign Employee Dormitories Bill as a progressive measure to mitigate the risks of larger dormitories. As more large dormitories are developed over the next few years, this Bill ensures that, upstream, better requirements are woven into their design and development.
- We hope this claries that the effect of the new legislation is not to allow us to take a more relaxed attitude with respect to smaller dorms, but rather, to put additional regulatory requirements on the bigger dorms that have a much greater impact on their surrounding neighbourhoods.
Tighter rules: Why stop at large dorms?
- The Straits Times, 23 January 2015
I welcome the long-awaited legislation to regulate and improve the living conditions at foreign worker dormitories ("Tougher rules to raise the bar at large dormitories"; Wednesday).
The new law, however, covers only dormitories with at least 1,000 beds. So I am concerned over whether conditions at smaller dormitories will improve.
If the intent of the new law is to set baseline standards for dormitory operators, then it should cover all dormitories, especially the smaller ones where living conditions are likely to be less favourable.
Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said that "as more of these purpose-built dorms come on stream, we will also begin to take a stricter view about how workers are housed elsewhere, and therefore you will begin to see a lot more of them shifting towards the purpose-built dorms".
Even if this shift does occur, it will take time.
Conversely, it might also be possible that operators start to build "smaller" dormitories that fall outside the new legislation, so they can be exempted from the stricter regulations.
Wouldn't it be more effective, legislatively and administratively, to have all dorms covered under the new law? Enforcement can then be carried out without ambiguity.
The law could allow some flexibility in the form of exemptions, on a case-by-case basis, for smaller operators that are unable to comply fully owing to practical reasons.