Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has stated today that within 24 hours of announcement, 497 applications were received seeking affixation of safety grills on balconies and windows of flats under their care.
Following two recent tragic incidents where children fell from high storeys of flat towers, HDC announced last Saturday that they were accepting applications to affix safety grills in social housing units under their oversight.
Applications can be sent via this link, and will be accepted until 12pm on September 30.
An HDC official said that they are now visiting applicants' flats in order of submission for inspections.
They said that priority will be given to flats in which persons mental health conditions live in.
"When we go for inspections, we are finding that parents have requested safety railings in flats occupied by children with ADHD, depression and other mental health challenges," they said.
They further said that residents of some flats have already affixed wooden slats or other forms of grills on windows and balconies on their own initiative.
In houses deemed eligible, balconies will be raised to 1.4 meters. If parents of children with serious mental health challenges request, HDC will close off the entire balcony with grills through their CSR program, the official said.
Safety measures being taken by HDC include a locking system and a grill system. The locking system limits the width to which windows can be opened, ensuring the gap is of a size which would not allow a child or person to fall out of. The grill, meanwhile, would close off the space entirely while allowing air flow.
The official said that parents at flats they have visited for inspection expressed deep concerns for the safety of their children.
"We are starting in order of requests received. A parent at a flat we visited yesterday was very worried. They said that issues such as this must be strongly considered, that their child may be prone to jumping off any minute, that they are constantly on alert. They said that for this reason, they wished to entirely close off the balcony and windows. So in places such as this, we are opting for full grill placement to close off the areas," the official said.
The official said that the total cost of the efforts is not clear as of yet. A figure can only be quoted after all applications are received and the flats inspected, they said.
"So we have a locking system and a grilling system. So we cannot yet say how much all this will cost. We're first doing inspections. Then verification of requests. We make house visits at times convenient for residents," the official explained.
The official stated that actual work on affixing the security features would be promptly started today. A limited amount of necessary materials are already in hand, they said.
This initiative has been taken by HDC after two recent incidents on children falling off highrise apartment towers. In one such case, a two year old tragically died after falling from the 12th storey of a STELCO apartment tower. Another recent event saw a 16 year old fall off the third floor of an FDC flat. Her condition is now stable, according to the hospital.
