Updated
Oct 07, 2024, 05:02 AM
Published
Oct 07, 2024, 05:00 AM
SINGAPORE – Mere steps away from the cool reprieve of an air-conditioned guardhouse, security guards at a condominium complex in Sims Avenue conduct checks on everyone and every vehicle passing through the back gate.
Even under the shade of a parasol, they have to contend with Singapore’s sweltering heat.
Previously, the guards did not even have the parasol, table and chair that now make up their outdoor workstation, said Mr Randy Ang, general manager of Metropolis Security Systems, which eventually provided the workstation set-up for its officers at the condo.
“There is high traffic load and kids crossing between 11am and 3pm. Standing under the hot sun is very demanding for the officers,” he said.
Aero Asia Security Systems’ chief operations officer Selvakumar Panneerselvam said guard posts at Singapore’s industrial areas tend not to be air-conditioned, and security guards tend to be more exposed to the elements as they make longer patrols of these sites. At sites where clients refuse to install air-conditioning, the company has had to buy window air conditioners for guard posts, he added.
Patrolling or traffic control duties are generally not considered exertional work, compared with construction work, for example.
But while security guards’ risk of getting heatstroke is lower, “anyone who has to do prolonged work in our hot and humid condition can be thermally uncomfortable”, said Associate Professor Jason Lee from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
“We speculate that if they are uncomfortable, their decision-making and alertness might be compromised,” added Prof Lee, who is also director of the Heat Resilience and Performance Centre at NUS Medicine. “There will be a tendency for them to complete their patrols and...