Killer Windows: The heat is on to retrofit windows
The Straits Times Monday, 8 September 2004

A HOME owner with casement windows five years old or more who does not change the aluminium rivets to stainless steel ones by 30 September 2005 faces a maximum fine of $5,000 or six months" jail, or both.
He also faces fines of up to $500 for each day after his conviction that he still does not do the retrofitting. The changes were made to the Building Control Act passed by Parliament last Wednesday.
The Act had been amended in 1999 to allow for a maximum penalty of $5,000 fine and six months" jail for those who did not make their air-conditioners safe from falling by Sept 30, 2000.
With the current amendment, the Government"s powers will be broadened to include all external features of a building that could pose a danger to the public and to impose a daily fine for those who refuse to act after a conviction.
The new law was prompted by the rise in the number of falling windows from just 19 in 2000 to 106 last year, mostly from HDB flats. Up until last month, 84 cases were reported this year and all were from HDB flats.