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RAS certifies
first convention & exhibition centre under the Happy Toilet Programme
(HTP)
 The Suntec
Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre (SSCEC) contacted the RAS to
express their interest of participating in the HTP in mid June. After an
on-site meeting in early July, the toilets were eventually certified
5-stars in August. With the accreditation, SSCEC has become the first
convention & exhibition centre to come on board the HTP in its bid to
offer quality toilets to visitors and delegates. The RAS is also planning
to meet with the other two convention & exhibition centres namely Sands
Expo & Convention Centre and Singapore EXPO Convention &
Exhibition Centre in the future.
For the past three
years, apart from common locations such as F&B places, hospitals,
public transport hubs and shopping centres, the HTP has extended its
outreach to new and less common locations such as clubs, worker dormitories,
industrial complexes, office buildings and places of worship. The first
less common locations to participate in the HTP were construction sites
which dated back to as early as late 2007, 12 years ago. The HTP was
launched in 2003 by Mr Lim Swee Say, who was then the Minister for the Environment,
and revisions were made over the years to its grading system – the
rating of 3-stars, 4-stars, 5-stars and a maximum of 6-stars. The 6-star
rating is the latest highest accreditation introduced in 2015.
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RAS shares about toilet rating
under the Happy Toilet Programme (HTP)
 In March, The Smart Local (TSL), Singapore's leading
lifestyle publisher with a monthly outreach of over half of the
Singapore’s population, wrote to RAS with keen interest in
RAS’ regular assessment and awarding of its HTP certification. A
video documentary feature about the HTP was suggested to share with locals
for them to gain insights into some of the best restrooms in Singapore as
well as the initiatives taken to uphold the well-being of these restrooms.
Filming commenced in July at RAS office including an on-site filming of
the first 6-star restrooms at the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. The rating
criteria of the HTP consist of 72 checklist items and some of them were shared
in the video. The video was published on TheSmartLocal’s Facebook page in August which garnered more
than 168,000 views.
In September, upon the invitation by the
National Environment Agency (NEA), RAS presented about its HTP to facility-management
managers from shopping malls. Apart from sharing its HTP, other key
programmes which contribute to quality standards of restrooms were also
shared with the managers - training on toilet design, maintenance &
inspection, training on restroom cleaning, smart technology, LOO
(Let’s Observe Ourselves) Awards and educational LOO Carnivals. The
three-day workshop was conducted by the NEA to equip managers with the
knowledge of tackling environmental problems in their malls. Apart from
public toilet cleanliness & sanitation, other topics shared were vector
control, building environmental hygiene, waste management, food Hygiene
and water conservation.
[View
TSL Video]
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RAS partners with Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) under
the Innovation Guidance Projects (IGP)
Under the ECDA’s community-based IGP, our Happy Toilet Hygiene IGP is the only hygiene-related
project which incorporates creative arts and social-emotional development
through toilet decorations and appreciation activities for cleaning
attendants. Following very positive outcomes from the pilot run with 10 preschools
last year, it was further expanded to a maximum of 15 preschools this
year. More than 15 preschool  applications were received with 10 preschools selecting our
project as their preferred choice. Our IGP offers four projects namely
decorations, inspections, exhibitions and appreciations (showing kindness
to cleaning attendants).
Participating preschools have the option of selecting one
project for their children to undertake with guidance from their
teachers. Prior to these, teachers were first trained by RAS in a one-day
session. After the training session, instead of undertaking one project, all
15 participating preschools displayed their strong commitment to execute
all four projects and some went the extra mile to involve parents in some
of their projects. Including RAS, there are a total of 16 IGP projects
offered by 11 organisations namely Agri-food & Veterinary Authority
of Singapore, ArtScience Museum, Gardens by the Bay, National Gallery
Singapore, National Heritage Board, National Parks Board, Singapore’s
National Water Agency PUB, Science Centre Board, Singapore Kindness
Movement and Wildlife Reserves Singapore.
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RAS partners with VISO on study of productivity on restroom
cleaning
In
April, a study was initiated by VISO on paper towel usage in partnership
with the RAS. A-Force Maintenance Pte Ltd, the LOO
(Let’s Observe Ourselves) Awards recipient for 2017 and cleaning
service provider maintaining close to 40 MRT stations, supported the
study – time spent on daily cleaning tasks on
a restroom installed with paper towels as compared to another installed
with only hand dryers. The study was conducted at a toilet at Raffles
Place MRT Station, which is also a 4-star Happy Toilet.
The study aimed to determine if the productivity of restroom cleaning can
be affected using paper towels as compared to the use of hand dryers.
A
pictogram, which depicts a comprehensive flow of the daily tasks on maintaining
a restroom with paper towels, indicates an extra 2 hours and 34 minutes are required to perform
the daily tasks - starting from stocking paper towels, replenishing them
and the extra time spent on the following tasks:
- Cleaning floor strewn with paper towels
- Emptying trash mostly filled with used
paper towels
- Replenishing trash bags in litter bin
- Dispatching and arranging for disposal of trash bags
The
latest 4th edition of the Guide to Better Public Toilet Design
and Maintenance, which was launched in November last year,
stated the use of fast-drying and hygienic hand dryers can eliminate
operational complexity to store, replenish and dispose used paper towels.
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