17 cases of fallen windows in the first 5 months of 2015

SINGAPORE — There were 17 cases of fallen windows in the first five months of this year, 10 fewer than the number of cases recorded in the same period last year, said the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and Housing and Development Board (HDB) today (June 5).

For most fallen casement windows, the aluminium rivets used to secure the friction stays were not replaced with stainless steel rivets, and had been corroded. For sliding windows, most did not have safety stoppers and angle strips to secure the window panels, and the windows were not able to slide smoothly along the tracks, said they said in a joint press release.

“All cases of falling windows could have been avoided if windows were maintained regularly through the simple “Check, Clean, Change” regime,” said the authorities.

Under the Building Control (Retrofitting of Casement Window) Order 2004, homeowners are required to change the aluminium rivets of casement windows with stainless steel ones. This applies to windows in all residential units except those in landed properties and the ground floor of buildings.

Homeowners who fail to replace all aluminium rivets in casement windows with stainless steel rivets can be fined up to S$5,000 and/or sentenced to up to six months in jail. They can also be fined up to S$10,000 and/or jailed for up to one year if a window falls due to lack of maintenance.

Since 2006, 288 people have been fined for fallen windows.