Frequently breathing in second-hand smoke from a neighbour’s flat is an extremely vexing issue for many of my constituents. Each time I do house-to-house visits, I will almost always meet residents who express their frustration with a neighbour’s smoking patterns.
I too have faced this issue with my neighbours in the past. “The guy downstairs is smoking again! Quick close the windows!” went the nightly ritual. Thankfully (for me) those neighbours have since moved out. However, the problem persists for thousands of other families, including those with young children or elderly parents.
Previous appeals for the Government to prohibit smoking near windows have been met with resistance for reasons including avoiding government overreach into private spaces and difficulty in enforcement. Perhaps we need to take another approach.
I am glad that the Municipal Services Office has put out a call for proposals to find technological solutions to ameliorate this problem. I hope scientists and entrepreneurs will step forward to submit innovative and effective proposals before the 9 Dec 2021 deadline, for the benefit of thousands of longsuffering residents.
I asked a question about this in Parliament on 5 Oct 2021. This was the full Parliamentary question and answer:
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FROM HDB TO REDUCE DIFFUSION OF SECOND-HAND SMOKE INTO FLATS
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for National Development what forms of technical assistance does HDB provide to flat occupants to reduce the diffusion of second-hand smoke at its source or prevent smoke from entering their flats.
Mr Desmond Lee: When secondhand tobacco smoke drifts from one HDB unit to another, it could cause discomfort and nuisance to neighbours. When approached by residents affected by secondhand tobacco smoke from neighbouring homes, HDB, together with Town Councils and the National Environment Agency, would first encourage neighbours to speak to each other to try to resolve the matter. Where necessary, a Joint Advisory on Smoking in Homes will be issued to the flat reported to be emitting second-hand smoke, encouraging considerate behaviour and emphasising the harmful impact that second-hand smoke may have on their neighbours.
If this does not work, the agencies will advise the affected neighbour to seek mediation, followed by a filing at the Community Dispute Resolution Tribunal.
The Member is likely to be referring to a recent joint Call for Proposals issued by the Municipal Services Office (MSO) with the support of HDB, under the latter’s Cool Ideas Enterprise programme. The objective is to tap on technology to find innovative ways to tackle secondhand tobacco smoke. MSO welcomes proposals that can reduce second hand smoke at its source, or prevent it from entering neighbouring units. MSO also welcomes proposals to help residents gather evidence that they can then use in the dispute resolution process, for example non-intrusive means of identifying the source of cigarette smoke and measuring its impact on the affected households.
The Call for Proposals closes on 9th December, after which MSO will evaluate the proposals with HDB’s technical input to determine which are suitable for further development and trials. This complements ongoing efforts by an inter-agency committee led by MCCY to review the Community Dispute Management Framework. Among other things, the committee is looking at strengthening the effectiveness of community mediation, and to make the last resort of filing a Community Dispute Resolution Tribunal case more accessible and expedient for claimants.
