S'pore firms keeping workers beyond age 62

EFFORTS to convince companies to keep workers beyond the age of 62 are bearing fruit, a new survey has shown. Of 3,200 companies surveyed, more than three of five said they would keep those workers. And out of 9,400 local employees from various sectors who had reached 62, 92 per cent said And out of 9,400 local employees from various sectors who had reached 62, 92 per cent said they were allowed to continue working.

Comments:

After reading this article, I believe that the working society is becoming into a workplace filled with not just young employees but also older employees aged between 60 to 62. As people start living longer and many might not have enough money to retire. By allowing workers of an older age to continue working, it helps to ensure that the senior workers can still earn an income and not to worry about financing the future needs. There are many skeptical employers that doubt if older workers are capable of handling the work in the company. But the truth is, senior workers are even more capable than young employees that have just enrolled into the company or organisation. The reason is simple, senior workers have more working experience. In business, practical working experience is more important than knowledge just alone read in books. Having knowledge is not enough. One must both have the working experience and the knowledge in order to manage a business well.

Done by : Hans

19 hurt in China school knife attack

Article : A 40 year old man went into a killing frenzy last month and was nearly arrested. He repeated the same act but this time in a particular school in China. He hurt 18 students and one teacher. Arrested by the police and sentenced to death due 23 march . Zheng Minsheng, 41 did these acts due to rage and depression taht was spurned by a lover. The injured were sent to hopitals but there were no reports of any deaths. Zheng used a dagger to stab children in the neck, stomach, chest and back before being subdues by onlookers.

Comments :
I believe that security must be tightened because the life and the safetyness of the students are of paramount importance. Security guards should be placed in every school to ensure that problems like the slashing of students can be prevented.  Furthermore, Zheng Minsheng should not use his personal relationship problem as an excuse to go mentally unstable and start slashing and hurting innocent students. As an adult, he is mature enough to think and should control his own emotions. Unless the school starts to become more responsible for the safetyness of the students, I believe that after this incident the institute will begin to lose more of its students as many parents will pull their kids out of this school to prevent the incident from occurring again.
DONE BY: HANS

Should smoking be banned in casinos?

ARTICLE : Casino patrons and employees alike are raising concern over the poor air quality in the smoking areas of local casinos at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) and Marina Bay Sands (MBS).

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has received more than 30 complaints from patrons about poor air quality and gamblers lighting up in non-smoking areas.

“Most of the floors in MBS are smoking areas and after being in there for an hour or so, I start coughing and feeling uncomfortable,” 56-year-old patron Margaret Choi tells Yahoo! Singapore.

Another RWS patron Madam Lee Geok Lan, 70, also told The Straits Times that signages were poor in RWS’ casino and that she had trouble finding the non-smoking area.

It is not just the patrons who are disgruntled. Some dealers who work in the smoking areas of the casino are worried about the ill-effects of their long exposure to second-hand smoke.

An NEA spokesman acknowledges that there had been complaints about smoking violations when the casinos first opened, but claims the integrated resorts (IR) have since taken action including displaying “No Smoking” signs more clearly and reducing available entrances and exits in smoking areas.

The IRs, unlike other public places, have been left out of moves over the years to curb smoking indoors. They are allowed to draw up their own house rules on smoking and non-smoking areas. This is despite the ban against smoking in nightspots that took effect in July 2007 and the prohibition of lighting up within 5 metres of entrances of exits and buildings since January last year.

At RWS, more than 60% of the casino is smoke-free. However, at MBS, only one of the four floors is devoted to gambling for non-smoking patrons. As a result, casino employees are consistently exposed to second-hand smoke at work.

Richard Chua, 55, who recently visited MBS’ casino told Yahoo! Singapore, “Even though the second-hand smoke is not that big a deal for me since I only visit once in awhile, it can’t be healthy for those working there everyday.”

A typical shift for a dealer lasts eight hours, with workers getting a break every one to two hours. This adds up to almost six hours of smoke exposure a day. Working on a rostered basis, some may spend many days working in smoking areas before being posted to non-smoking ones.

Several casino staff have expressed unhappiness over having to breathe second-hand smoke for such long working hours everyday. While some have quit, others are putting up with the situation for fear of losing their jobs, and have not raised the matter to the management.

One MBS dealer told The Straits Times she had developed a lingering cough because of the second-hand smoke and said, “I was on medical leave three times within the first month of work.”

Others agreed, saying working in the smoking areas can be unbearable because the small gaming tables increases their proximity to surrounding smokers.

An MBS spokesman explains that ”all employees working in the casino were informed that their work environment will have smoking components.”

He adds that MBS is “committed to managing air flow and air quality” and that they have invested in air treatment and filtration systems similar to those used in hospitals.

RWS also told The Straits Times that it was “constantly monitoring and implementing ways to improve the air quality of the casino” to ensure patrons and workers are given a pleasant gaming and working environment.

The Ministry of Manpower, when asked if the issue of second-hand smoke came under the Workplace Safety and Health framework and what employees could do, said, “MOM encourages employees who have concerns about their work environment to raise them with their employers to work out practical solutions.”

Comments :

Singapore, a clean and green environment , should ban smoking in the casino. Smoking in the casino has caused several problems and concern over on the poor quality of air in the casino itself. The smoker will not just affect the players that are around him but also affect the non-managerial employees working in the casino. Breathing in second-hand smoke has always been known to be more detrimental to health than first-hand smoke.

Furthermore, it affects not only the health of the players but also the performances of the players. Health is the most important factor to why we should ban smoking in the casino. It had been said," To reach a thousand steps, it is to take the first step", we must know that though banning smoking in the casino is just a step to ensuring a free-smoking environment in the casino but it is also a step making us closer to a free-smoking Singapore.

Done by: Hans

Cambodian stampede

The three-day Water Festival is held each November to honor a victory by Cambodian naval forces during the 12th century reign of King Jayavarman VII.During the festival, which includes boat races, participants pray for a good rice harvest and enough rain, and celebrate the full moon.

Cambodian government has decreased the official death toll from a stampede on a suspension bridge in the capital from 456 to 347. Government investigators said on Wednesday that the bridge swayed as thousands of people attempted to cross it Monday night during the Water Festival. Apparently it led to fears that it would collapse, triggering the stampede. Hundreds of others were injured in the incident.

Police fired water canons at the people to keep them moving which led to further panic. The government annouced that they will help transport the bodies of the dead and pay 5 million riel ($1,230) to the family of each of the deceased.


Comments:
The Water Festival should be a joyous event but it turn out to be a tragedy. In my opinion,even though there is a reduction in the death poll from 456 to 357 it is still not a positive news.
The police should not have handle the situation by firing water canons at the people. This causes more panic and fear in the people.Instead, they should have use alternative ways to calm and lead the people to safety.
The government tackled this tragedy by paying 5 million riel(SG$1230) to the family of each the deceased which i think is not rational to do it as life cannot be measured using monetary terms.The government should really look into the problem and amend on how their police force handles it, if there's such horrendous situation again.


Lin Zong Han

The problem of obesity is getting worse in Singapore

 

The latest National Health Survey shows the obesity rate has increased from 6.9 per cent in 2004 to 10.8 per cent this year. This year's National Healthy Lifestyle campaign is thus adopting a more holistic approach to help Singaporeans fight the flab. More than 1,000 people turned up at the launch of the campaign by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. They tried out the new Singapore Workout that includes traditional dance moves. The message is for Singaporeans to get healthy together and combat obesity. Based on the National Health Survey, the obesity rate is definitely on the upturn. The HPB attributes the rise in obesity here to a lack of physical activity and a more sedentary lifestyle. The National Health Survey found that 54.1 per cent of Singaporeans do not exercise.  HPB's Youth Health Division director K Vijaya said: "There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that chronic disease including obesity has its roots in pre-natal and the early developmental stages of one's life."As a result of this evidence, we are shifting our obesity prevention efforts further upstream, to the pre-natal and early years of one's life. "We will be empowering parents to nurture health lifestyles, among their children. "We are coming up with guidelines, strategies to provide a conducive environment for this purpose such as baby friendly hospitals that support breast feeding."In addition, we will be coming up with guidelines to prevent indiscriminate advertising of food and beverages to children".Other efforts include getting those from the food industry to develop lower calorie food products and meals, to cut some 25 billion kilocalories from Singapore's food supply by 2013. HPB also intends to roll out a nationwide Body Mass Index survey every two to three years to better monitor obesity trends.

Personal view:

Indeed, Singaporeans are getting more and more overweight and are less alert on their personal weight and health. Hence, based on the above article which had mentioned, are agreeable. Therefore, by preventing this situation to become worse, Singapore’s government and Health Promotion Board (HPB) had decided to introduce certain measures to overcome this problem. Such as promoting social exercises, whereby Singaporeans are gather through an event to exercise together, and alerting Singaporeans through television or newspaper to have a balanced diet. As a result, number of obesity occurring in Singapore would be lesser and other problems relating to it will also be fewer. For example, lesser people would suffer higher blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Perhaps, it will also benefit Singaporeans as they are more health conscious and living a healthier lifestyles.                                                                  

Yan Ling