Written Answer by Ministry of National Development on lift technicians employed in Singapore

May 4, 2020

Mr Zainal Sapari: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) what is the current number of qualified lift technicians; (b) given BCA's introduction of an enhanced regulatory framework for the lift maintenance industry, whether there are enough supply of lift technicians; (c) how does the regulator ensure that all lift technicians obtain the necessary certificate of competency; and (d) what actions will be taken against companies who deploy untrained lift technicians to the worksites to perform lift maintenance.

Answer:

There are currently about 2,400 lift technicians employed in Singapore. BCA has put in place various measures to attract, develop and retain lift technicians. These include introducing a progressive wage model for the industry in 2019, which sets out structured pathways for progression.  BCA is also exploring the use of Remote Monitoring & Diagnostics technology to increase productivity.  This will uplift the nature of the job, and enable each technician to maintain a larger number of lifts.

To ensure a high standard of maintenance as our lift stock continues to grow, BCA will require lift technicians to obtain either a Nitec in Built Environment (Vertical Transport) or a Certificate of Competency (CoC) in Lift Maintenance for Lift Specialist before they are allowed to maintain lifts independently.

To date, more than 400 of the 2,400 lift technicians have received either the Nitec or the CoC. BCA will continue to work with ITE to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to train our lift technicians, before the requirements come into effect. 

Once the requirements take effect, it will be an offence for lift maintenance contractors to deploy technicians without the required certification to maintain lifts independently. BCA will conduct audits on lift maintenance operations and take enforcement actions against errant contractors.