Reader's Respond - Draft 1


According to the article, “36 buildings may have combustible cladding that doesn’t meet safety standards; police investigating,” Loh (2017). SCDF has been inspecting cladding used on buildings to ensure fire safety criteria are met. 36 buildings had failed to meet the class 0 standard and all the composites panels used for cladding were supplied by a local distributor whom had mixed up the fire classes of the two different models from an American Brand called Alubond. Local distributor agrees to comply with the fire safety standards and will seize distribution. SCDF stated the fire incident occurred at 30 Toh Guan Road, an industrial building with cladding, had failed the class 0 standard and after reviewing the incident, industrial buildings has agreed to remove cladding that failed the fire class 0 standard for operation to carry on.

In another article, “Guarding against a Grenfell-like disaster in Singapore,” by Ong (2017). The intensity of the fire was due to the flammability of cladding which has gutted the Grenfell Tower. Despite Singapore having the lowest fire fatalities rate in the world, high standard of fire safety will still be maintained to all buildings while seeking for improvements. Registered architects and engineers are required to submit building plans to SCDF for approval while at the same time, SCDF is working closely with HDB to ensure cladding used meet the fire class 0 standard otherwise, it will be given 2 months to remove with immediate effect. Materials used for cladding must be non-flammable and fire does not spread along the material’s surface when ignited.


With SCDF enforcing on the fire safety cladding materials to be fire class 0, it does not eliminates the potential of fire hazard but rather minimizes it. According to the article “What is cladding, and why can it be a fire risk?,” Boult (2017). Cladding has the potential to serve as a chimney for fire to spread upwards through the spaces between cladding and the exterior of building walls. Upon combustion, hot air can pass through the spaces to the top while fresh cold air contain oxygen will enter from the bottom which allows the fire to be intensified. Although the cladding materials maybe fire class 0, there are possibilities of open windows which allows fire to combust the interior of the building such as furniture.


On the other hand, cladding provides many advantages to the buildings. It has the potential of protecting buildings from the elements of the weather to prolong the structure and acts as a drainage to allow rainwater to flow down the gaps. It also allows easy cleaning and repairing while providing aesthetic appearance to the overall outlook of the buildings.

In conclusion, it is not possible to eliminate the potential fire hazard of cladding but with strong implementation on fire safety standards to ensure cladding materials are fire case 0, the potential risk can be reduced significantly.





Citations

Use of Cladding in Buildings Here Have Grown in Recent Times, Faris Mokhtar (2017 )
36 buildings may have combustible cladding that doesn’t meet safety standards; police investigating, Loh (2017)
Guarding against a Grenfell-like disaster in Singapore, by Ong (2017)
“What is cladding, and why can it be a fire risk?, Boult (2017)
The advantage of cladding

Comments

  1. A lot of issues with "has" and to the points.
    citations
    with were too fixated to SCDF
    Take from account from a positive and negative side, then to thesis.
    have an inside on what the reader is writing (the one sentences to explain everything)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eliminate allow of "the" and "has"

    ReplyDelete

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