HDB Introducing Safer Ideas for Drying Laundry
The usual laundry drying racks that can be spotted in the public housing landscape of Singapore are about to get a bit different. The housing board is looking at new design options as to make the laundry racks safer than before.
The Straits Times reported that the HDB has been looking at its external clothes drying rack system and reviewing it to come up with a better design. This external drying racks system can be found outside the windows of many flats. HDB had put out two tenders at the end of June and called for 11 types of drying rack systems to be designed and review them through wind tests.
From the 11 designs, three already exist and used by households. One is the pipe sockets which require laundry poles to be slotted into, second is the galvanised steel racks which come with grooves to support both sides of a pole, and the third is a similar one but with an extra metal plate with the holes.
The next six designs are supposed to have stainless steel drying racks featuring grooves in different sizes. The last two designs will be only made public after the tender has been awarded.
The HDB spokesperson told that all of this was just part of a regular review and tests were being conducted so as to improve the existing drying rack system. She elaborated that factors like weather conditions and what type of laundry poles used were being taken into consideration. She did not add any more details stating that the review was still in a preliminary level.
It has been discovered that the experts and residents do appreciate some of the proposed designs saying that they will help improve safety and the user-friendliness of the drying rack system.
The laundry drying rack system in HDB blocks has gone through many changes over the years. The flats used to have pipe socket holders from the 1960s to the early 1990s. In 1995, racks featuring two plated to support both sides of a laundry pole were introduced. In later years, these laundry racks were given an additional metal plate so as to prevent the poles from dislodging. Later in 2002, the new flats sported sixed metal laundry racks which could use bamboo poles.
Talking about newly propped designs, Mr. Fong Kim Choy who is a deputy president of the National Safety Council of Singapore said that the design which features jagged pole slots instead of the straight slots is going to be really effective to prevent dislodgment of poles.
Many other people expressed their opinions as well but Chui Yoon Ping, associate professor and head of human factors in safety programme at UniSIM said something to ponder upon. He stated that we needed to stop using poles entirely in order to dry clothes safely.
Source :
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/hdb-racking-up-ideas-on-safer-ways-to-dry-laundry
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