With terrorists setting their sights on soft targets with a high concentration of people, food and beverage (F&B) company Timbre Group is not taking any chances.
All its operations management staff have received first aid and fire extinguisher training in the past three years or are scheduled to go for such training, said its managing director, Mr Edward Chia.
Also, since early this year, the company has taken steps to make its management more aware of security threats. Its operations management is told, for example, to download the SGSecure mobile app to keep informed.
The company, which employs 85 full-time staff, will engage the rest of its workforce next, Mr Chia said.
"The safety of our colleagues and customers is our priority. Our staff need to know how to react, how to keep customers calm," he added.
The company runs big venues Timbre+ and Yishun Park Hawker Centre, which have room each for at least 750 people.
Apart from F&B, the other four priority sectors identified by the Government are retail, entertainment, hotels and transport.
These sectors are vulnerable as seen in overseas incidents, such as the attacks in Stockholm's main shopping street in April, Manchester Arena in May, and London Bridge and Borough Market in June.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) aims to get 30,000 companies to register an SGSecure representative by 2020 to be a point of contact for the authorities during an incident. In the same year, it also aims to have another 27,000 companies at a higher level of preparedness, or SGSecure-ready.
To help them get ready, the new SGSecure Guide For Workplaces was unveiled yesterday.
Put together by government agencies, trade associations and unions, the guidebook is on the MOM website, and a hard copy will be given to every business from next month.
Firms can get help to raise their preparedness levels through the bizSafe framework. Those applying for or renewing their bizSafe Level 3 status, for example, must include mitigating measures for terror risks in their audited risk management plans. About 22,000 firms have bizSafe Level 3 status and above.
Companies can get government subsidies of up to 90 per cent for their workers to get SGSecure training under bizSafe Level 2 programmes, Minister of State for Manpower Sam Tan told reporters after the annual National Security Conference yesterday.
Mr Dennis Foo, president of the Singapore Nightlife Business Association, said it will conduct more awareness programmes for nightspot operators.
He urged nightspots to invest in CCTVs, which are not too costly and can help detect people recceing venues before an attack.
Timbre assistant head chef Mohammad Fahmi Abdul Rahaman, 31, welcomed the effort to get more workers involved in SGSecure. "Many staff and patrons are often unaware of the possible threats they are exposed to," he said. "Educating staff to be aware of strange or unattended articles is a good practice."
Joanna Seow
