Haze taking its toll on businesses

SINGAPORE — Businesses are starting to count the cost of the worsening haze situation and some of those with extensive outdoor operations are seeing significant impact as they take measures to protect their employees.

Pest Busters, whose workers carry out pest control measures both indoors and outdoors, has been losing S$20,000 to S$25,000 of income a day, said CEO Thomas Fernandez.

“We’ve had to look at the health of our staff this week and as a result we’ve been scaling down our outside jobs,” he said, adding that the firm expects to lose a similar amount every day if the current conditions persist.

Steel construction company PJI Contract is facing a similar challenge, and Managing Director Philip Loh said his staff have been working hard to mitigate the potential financial impact: “We’re trying to minimise outdoor activities and have rescheduled our projects to give priority to indoor work.”

He added that, so far, there has not been a major impact on revenue. “It’s more of a health and safety issue. The dollar signs won’t kick in unless the haze continues to be a major problem.”

The high Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) levels are “worrying”, said Mr Victor Tay, Chief Operating Officer of the Singapore Business Federation: “Not only is the haze a health hazard, it’s disruptive to business operations, and there will be serious environmental, financial and economic implications if the situation persists.”

He added that the impact will be felt across all sectors, from construction and engineering to F&B and retail.

Supporting that view was Dr Jannie Chan, President of the Singapore Retailers Association, who said shops are feeling the pinch as fewer people are venturing out: “A dipstick survey indicates that retailers are finding foot traffic much reduced and sales have also declined by anything between 8 and 12 per cent.”

Retailers are also looking ahead to the weekend, normally the peak shopping time: StarHub is planning to suspend outdoor sales activities such as roadshows if the air quality continues to be in the unhealthy range.

“Our employees’ health and well-being are of utmost concern to us,” said StarHub Senior Vice-President of Human Resource Chan Hoi San.

Some F&B outlets have temporarily closed their doors: Klapsons hotel in Tanjong Pagar shut its two outdoor restaurants yesterday and plans to reopen them when the PSI drops back below 200. General Manager Anna Tong said this will result in thousands of dollars of revenue lost. But she added: “It’s not always about money, we have to think about the well-being of our staff.”

Despite many businesses feeling the effects of the haze, some have not seen any major impact.

Pictures of Singapore’s smog-bound skyline do not seem to have put people off travelling here: SilkAir said it has not seen a significant increase in people cancelling or re-booking their flights and Singapore Airlines has not noticed any particular booking trends.

For some firms with staff who are largely office-based, impact has been minimal. Advertising agency XM Asia Pacific gave its 100 employees the option of working from home yesterday as it was confident it could carry out its operations even with a significant number of staff working remotely.

Said Finance Director Esther Chua: “As long as there’s a laptop ... work can be done. If necessary, we can do a conference call or Skype internally or even with clients.”