TL-DR: Make sure your PMDs have the UL2272 Certification Marks.
My ma really hates e-scooters or whatever forms those Personal Mobility Devices (PMDs) come in. I don’t blame her though, there are just too many irresponsible riders in our hood, riders who go too fast on pavements, riders who have not a care for the people sharing the paths, including older folks like my ma.
I’m a lot more tolerant of PMDs since I am hopeful that PMDs can help us transition towards a car-lite nation.
However, I am concerned about the increasing counts of PMD-related fires at homes. It feels as though not a month passes without us hearing some news of such fires.
So how many PMD-linked fires so far?
In 2017, there were 49 PMD-linked fires. But of course, those were the earlier days of PMDs and ownership was significantly lower.
In 2018, there were 74 such fires, a whopping 51 per cent increase from 2017.
SCDF said that these fires typically happened while the devices were charging or shortly after. It has been reported that one major culprit was the use of defective or poor quality batteries.
First fatality from PMD-linked fire
Just last week, there was a fire in a HDB flat at Bukit Batok where a 41-year-old man and a woman were rescued. The cause of the fire was suspected to be linked to the charging of their PMDs.
The man was later reported to have died in the hospital *sobs*
Mind you, this was not even the first PMD-linked fire in July.
There was another case that happened in a Tampines HDB flat in early July.
The latest PMD-linked fire
The latest incident happened in a HDB unit in Ang Mo Kio yesterday (Monday) afternoon! There have been a total of eight such fires since June.
Here, check out the damage it’s done to the Ang Mo Kio flat.
According to SCDF, the fire appeared to be from a PMD placed in the kitchen. They also shared that one adult and three children from the neighbouring unit were rescued in the fire.
Only UL2272 certified PMDs, please!
If you have been following the news, you’d know that a new UL2272 standard is being adopted to minimise the risk of such fire incidents.
All motorised PMDs used on public paths must be UL2272-certified from 2021.
If you’re buying a PMD, please look out for the UL2272 Certification Marks.
And if you have an existing PMD, go check if yours is UL2272 certified and quickly get a replacement if it is not.
If you’re still not sure, you can check the LTA site for more information and they also have an indicative list of UL2272 certified devices for the Singapore market.
Better be safe than sorry. And don’t endanger your families’ and your neighbours’ lives.
