The-Upperroom.com

Last Tuesday (2nd Jan) evening, I decided to prepare a nice dinner for my dearie. I saw the opening banner of “NTUC Xtra” outside Ang Mo Kio Hub a few days ago and thought it will be interesting to check it out.

As I drove towards the unimaginative building called Ang Mo Kio Hub, I was shocked by the traffic chaos outside the building. There were at least 7 taxis occupying the left lane of the road leading up to the carpark entrance of AMK Hub. Cars that were turning into the carpark jam packed the middle lane leaving only the right lane for normal traffic in the already congested road.

I wondered to myself, which idiot architect/town planner placed a 2 bay taxi stand less than 5 meters infront of a carpark entrance. (remember, this is AMK, 1 out of 10 Singaporeans live in this HDB town, there will be definitely be high demand for taxis)

Can you imagine taxis over flowing onto the road and drivers over taking them via the middle lane…trying to turn into the carpark…while other taxis (already picked up passengers) trying to swerve back into the road but are blocked by these drivers. When the taxis managed to squeeze their way through, they were blocked by cars coming out of the carpark which were stopped by vehicles stopping for the traffice light not far in front. *shake head* Potential Death Trap ONE: soon or later an accident will happen.

I cleared the mess and started to drive down the circular ram leading to the basement carpark. One up coming vehicle nearly hit my car right in the face. I stopped and he stopped. I stared at him, he reversed and we passed each other. That was close. It was only when I was coming up from the basement that I realised why he nearly hit me. See photo.

Nope, I did not take the photo on my way up that day. I saw the covered mirror and decided to slow down to avoid any further danger to fellow drivers. I asked myself, what kind of irresponsible Building management will allow such a mistake. The plastic bag covering the safety mirror was not even removed and you can see the installation manual hanging there. (Potential Death Trap TWO)

What’s the point of a safety mirror when it’s covered?

I really hope somebody from the Building management will see it and remove the death trap. I called NTUC, but was put on hold until the line was suddenly disengaged.

The photo was taken when I returned to buy something on Sat (6 Jan) afternoon, 4 days later. I was ‘mad’ when I saw the plastic bag still hanging there. That’s what prompted me to write this post. It must be more than 10 days since the opening of NTUC Xtra and nobody from the the Building Management noticed such a mistake.

Soon, I noticed many more potential death traps and the covered mirror became a minor issue.

‘Potential Death Trap Three?’ in the name of profit

Technically, I cannot classify this as a death trap as I’m not trained in fire safety. I’ll leave it to the readers to decide.

Arup, the fire safety consulting company announced the following on their company website:

With six levels of retail and entertainment, the S$340M Ang Mo Kio Hub Mall is set to become Singapore’s largest neighbourhood mall.

Offering significant cost savings, Arup’s fire strategy increases flexibility of usage without affecting occupant safety. A reduction in the number and width of staircases has rationalised the building’s escape systems, enlarging its net leasable area and improving rental returns.….

(Source)

They proposed some smoke control systems so as to cut both the number of staircases and their width. All done in the name of profit.

Potential Death Trap FOUR

Let’s take Arup’s word for it, since they are the experts. Let’s believe that their smoke control systems really cut down the total number of staircases required. However, we need to bear in mind that the building was opened to a large number of shoppers while it’s still partially completed. Smoke from the basement may not be able to escape to the polygonal atrium voids as they were sealed off and are still under-renovation.

Worst, I noticed one staircase right outside NTUC Xtra’s entrance was ’sealed’ off. It’s not ready for public use, with some renovation materials and debris on the stairs.

I sincerely hope that there will not be any fire before the completion of the entire building and that the fire safety consultant did take into account the partial opening status of the building, i.e. the sealed staircases, the main atrium being sealed off from the basement shops.

Potential Death Trap FIVE

The were many spots within the building that I saw large puddles of water. There must be water leaking somewhere, regardless of that I did not see a single “Floor wet” caution signs where I spotted these large water puddles. With senior citizens and so many children running around, I fear from their safety.

Potential Death Trap SIX

There is a pair of travellators leading to the basement carpark. There was only 1 door leading to the carpark at the bottom of the travelator. I saw many trolleys blocking the exit as driver reverse their cars close to the exit to load their purchased goods. The exit could potentially be jammed with trolleys.

It’s very inconvenient to shoppers as it is and the obstruction will potentially be a hazard during emergency.

I personally suggest at least 2 carpark lots be sacrificed to create a buffer zone for flow of human traffic. NTUC should have learned from the loading congestion in their temporary NTUC mall further up the road.

There were many other potential death traps as pointed out in various discussion forums when I did a search while writing this post.

Is safety and human lives so cheap nowadays that profit outweight everything in our society?

Must we be a nation who always wait till there is a death count to react and beef up on safety?

I wonder why the hurry to open NTUC Xtra when the building is not fully ready. Did the management do a risk analysis or are they more concerned about their profits.

I wonder why did the authorities approved the partial use of the building when any common man on the street could spot many potential death traps.

Will you and your family visit NTUC Xtra knowing the potential dangers?

As for me and my household, we are staying clear of this building.