Serious Premium BTO Flats Equipped With 3rd World Free Falling Lifts That Broke Down 20 Times!

SINGAPORE - Heavy landings on the ground floor, lifts stopping mid-journey, and buttons turning off after being pressed.

Such erratic lift behaviour and at least 20 breakdowns this year have plagued residents of the new Built-To-Order, premium flats at McNair Towers in Boon Keng since the keys were handed over in August last year (2016).

There are four blocks in McNair Towers, with Blocks A and B having 35 storeys, and C and D, 28.

Sales adviser Eileen Long, 30, and her family of four had a bad experience with one of the three lifts serving Block B on Oct 18.

"There was a very loud sound when it landed on the ground floor with impact. Thankfully we were not hurt, but my daughter was a bit traumatised."

Ms Long was with her husband, and two children, aged one and three. A day after the incident, the lift, was shut down for two days for maintenance work.



Mr Howie Hau, 50, a financial trader, said he was in a lift in Block A in August when it jerked, stopped and went into free fall for a short while.

"It does not seem safe for the lift to be free-falling, even if it's just for a few floors. Now, we try to avoid that lift whenever we can because it seems to be the most problematic," he said.

He said there has been a lift breakdown almost every week, since he moved in in April.

The doors and sensors of these lifts, which were installed by Sigma, were more prone to misalignment from heavy and rough usage, especially during the lifts' first year of operation, with renovation and moving activities, a Housing Board investigation showed.

In response, HDB has instructed the lift manufacturer - Sigma Elevator - to carry out servicing twice a month, instead of once, as is normally done, and progressively carry out improvement works to raise lift reliability.

Said its spokesman: "While there has been an observed increase in reported lift issues in September and early October, Sigma has been carrying out additional checks and rectification works and the situation has since improved."

Jalan Besar Town Council, which the blocks come under, confirmed it has been conducting regular inspections with Sigma.

"At our request, Sigma has specially allocated a team to monitor and look into the lift issues at these blocks," said the town council.

Besides improvement works, HDB said measures have been taken to encourage proper use of the lifts, such as through educational posters and YouTube videos.

When asked for possible causes of the repeated breakdowns, general manager of Sigma Singapore Adreana Goh said: "An internal investigation found that the vast majority of riders' feedback was related to issues with the operation of lift doors."

She added that the project was awarded to Sigma in March 2013.

Ms Yuen Wai Fang, 41, an engineering assistant who lives with three other family members in Block D, has not experienced a lift breakdown, but said: "I think the most important issue is safety, because if a lift jerks suddenly, elderly people might fall or get a shock."

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...s-residents-of-premium-bto-flats-in-boon-keng

Singapore is sure in the dumps, parents taking train home not safe, for it might crash & kill them. Going home in the lift, with child, not safe, lift might crash & kill them.

What do they get? instead of sacking those incompetent 'volunteers', like Cow%8 & Quack, mee siam mai hum, is raising taxes....now, your job is not safe too.

Good for the 70%....what you voted for is what you get.....

my uncle say why Mr howie hau avoid the lift instead of avoiding pap.

Cheese pie with name like McNair alrdy know a snakey joint how not to break down? Residents pls don't take lift together at same time, the BO will kill the liftd

These lift works fine with FT, install to kill only Sinkies.

climb the stairs, it's a good work out after all! Active SG ok?

sweetiepie said:

my uncle say why Mr howie hau avoid the lift instead of avoiding pap.

Click to expand...

They will give this Mr. Howie, 1/2 deduction on his S&C fees, One time only; $100 NTUC Gift vouchers & Howie will forget the lifts are not working....how can he avoid the PAP, they do good to him.

zhihau said:

climb the stairs, it's a good work out after all! Active SG ok?

Click to expand...

my uncle say this is a very good words for mp to say in parliament if more lift break down.

sweetiepie said:

my uncle say this is a very good words for mp to say in parliament if more lift break down.

Click to expand...

Hip hip! Hooray!

I didn't know I'm MP-material :p:p:p

My BTO flat have weird problem, sometimes with all lifts at other floors, no response when the buttons were pressed at ground floor. We have to go to 2nd floor and above, then the lift will come to the floor where you are.

Good luck to all people living at high floors...lol

Wow...SIGMA sounds Japanese to me. I don't believe HDB is using Japanese products. We were using Hitachi until the recent lift upgrading. Now it's an unknown brand called iFE.

Buckethead said:

My BTO flat have weird problem, sometimes with all lifts at other floors, no response when the buttons were pressed at ground floor. We have to go to 2nd floor and above, then the lift will come to the floor where you are.

Good luck to all people living at high floors...lol

Click to expand...

You didn't read the instruction manual, ha ha ha....why don't you go to HDB offices & press some buttons over this?

Lift manufacturer Sigma still banned from tendering from new projects: HDB
The interior of a Sigma lift at Block 17B, Circuit Road.PHOTO: ST FILE
PUBLISHED
NOV 19, 2017, 9:53 PM SGT
FACEBOOK482TWITTER

Ng Jun Sen
SINGAPORE - Lift company Sigma Elevators is still banned from tendering for new projects, said HDB, as its performance has yet to meet the required standards.

The update comes nearly a year after the Housing Board revealed it had forbidden Sigma from bidding for new projects since October 2015.

This is so that the firm - a subsidiary of American company Otis Elevator Company belonging to the United Technologies group - can "focus on improving the installed lifts under their current contract".

Noting "some observed improvements in the performance of these lifts", the spokesman told the Straits Times: "We are closely monitoring the progress of the improvement works, and will review their status after they have fully met our lift performance and service standards."

There are around 3,500 lifts built by Sigma out of about 24,000 lifts in HDB estates here. In 2013, HDB awarded a tender to the company to install 469 lifts in new flats. But the company, unable to meet deadlines, was not allowed to tender for new projects in 2015.

In 2016, HDB noticed a higher-than-usual breakdown rate in the lifts installed by Sigma in their first year of operation. An investigation found that the doors and sensors were more prone to misalignment, possibly due to knocks from rough usage from renovation and home moving activities.

Erratic lift behaviour plagues residents of premium BTO flats in Boon Keng[/paste:font]
Accumulated debris in the door sills, which are metal rails along which the elevator doors slide, could also cause the elevator to stop working, a Sigma spokesman told ST previously.

This occurred mainly in lifts in their first year of operation, in newly completed flats under the 2013 tender.

The company has said it has worked closely with the Town Councils and HDB to rectify the issues, with HDB adding in its latest reply that improvements were seen where Sigma has "undertaken rectification works for this batch of lifts progressively".

But there have been recurring problems for Sigma-branded lifts which are not part of the 2013 tender as well.

In five public estates tracked by ST - Punggol Arcadia, Edgefield Walk, Waterway Cascadia, Natura Loft and McNair Towers, the Sigma lifts there still break down repeatedly and are out of service for long periods.

Three of these - Punggol Arcadia, Edgefield Walk and Natura Loft - are about five to seven years old and the lifts there are not supplied under HDB's lift term contracts, but through each development's contractor.

Said HDB of these estates: "The respective Town Councils had engaged Sigma, the lift contractor, to maintain the lifts. We will work with the Town Councils and Sigma to improve the performance of these lifts through regular checks and maintenance."

In August, the Ministry of National Development revealed national lift breakdown figures for 2013/14 and 2015/16 in public housing estates, showing things had improved. On average, there were 20 lift breakdowns per 1,000 lifts a month in 2015 and 2016, down from around 30 in 2013 and 2014.

But not all residents have seen improvements.

At Punggol Arcadia, one resident, who started compiling an Excel sheet of "Lift Reports" from June, recorded a surge of nearly 50 lift breakdowns in September alone, up from 15 in the previous month. The last reported incident, according to the resident, was on Nov 8. However, his data did not distinguish between whether each incident was case of lift breakdown or that the lift was put out of service because of maintenance.

At Bishan's Natura Loft, a Design, Build and Sell Scheme estate, the breakdown of the high-speed Sigma lifts in the estate's three 40-storey blocks has continued to inconvenience residents.

In one incident on Aug 5, nine people were trapped in a Natura Loft lift for more than an hour when it stopped between two levels. A Sigma technician arrived late as he was stuck in traffic, ST understands.

So exhausted were the nine - who included elderly residents and infants - that three seniors had to be placed on drip. Other residents passed food and drinks through the gap.

The lift was eventually opened manually by a technician and there were no reported injuries, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

But the incident is still on the minds of residents months later, they told ST.

When oral exams for the Primary School Leaving Examination were held later in August, a Sigma technician was put on standby at the foot of the blocks to assuage the worries of parents.

Said resident Jonathan Ho, 37: "Here's the crux of it - When the foundation is weak and you start with a bad set of lifts, you will forever be playing the game of catch up and repair.

"They have to decide whether it is worth more to start from a point of solidly constructed lifts or to continuously maintain a poorly made one."

The Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council declined to comment.

halsey02 said:

Singapore is sure in the dumps, parents taking train home not safe, for it might crash & kill them. Going home in the lift, with child, not safe, lift might crash & kill them.

What do they get? instead of sacking those incompetent 'volunteers', like Cow%8 & Quack, mee siam mai hum, is raising taxes....now, your job is not safe too.

Good for the 70%....what you voted for is what you get.....

Click to expand...

ROTFFLMFAO!

Hear hear!