Government agency Enterprise Singapore (ESG) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) are targeting the tourism, food and retail sectors to come on board the SG Clean campaign.
The campaign is a government backed effort to rally businesses and the public to uphold good sanitation standards and hygiene practices.
The on-going COVID-19 has brought extra urgency to the situation, and among the first to be certified by ESG and STB is Singapore’s popular Orchard Road shopping belt, which include food and retail businesses in malls such as Plaza Singapura and ION Orchard; Grand Hyatt Singapore; and the Singapore Visitor Centre.
Many big name food outlets are on board SG Clean and two other hotels - Village Hotel Sentosa and Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa – have been certified. (See Annex A: List of certified establishments to-date).
Grand Hyatt Singapore and several businesses at Plaza Singapura received their SG Clean quality mark from Mr Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Education – following a visit to the premises.
Over the next few months, ESG and STB will encourage more than 37,000 businesses within the tourism and lifestyle sectors to sign up for the SG Clean certification programme.
In February 2020, the National Environment Agency (NEA) began rolling out the SG Clean quality mark at hawker centres and coffee shops, with support from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
The SG Clean quality mark will focus on certifying establishments that experience heavy human traffic on a daily basis, such as shopping malls, hotels, tourist attractions, conference venues, preschools, schools and transport nodes.
Ms Choy Sauw Kook, Director-General, Quality & Excellence, Enterprise Singapore, commented, “While many businesses have adopted their own precautionary measures, SG Clean goes a step further to ensure that these establishments meet the baseline of good industry practices. SG Clean can help to instil confidence in Singaporeans to shop and dine, and support our local businesses. “Beyond that, ESG also encourages businesses to uphold such good sanitation and hygiene practices for the long term.”
Mr Keith Tan, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board, said: “Over the next two months, STB aims to audit and certify 570 hotels, attractions, and other tourism establishments. The SG Clean quality mark sends a strong signal to both locals and visitors that our tourism businesses take their cleanliness and hygiene very seriously and are committed to maintaining these high standards as a ‘new normal’ for the future.”
To be certified, businesses have to go through a seven-point checklist tailored to the requirements and operations in the various sectors. These cover the appointment of an SG Clean manager to oversee the establishment’s practices, temperature and health screening of employees, arrangements for engagement of external personnel such as suppliers and contractors, implementation of cleanliness and hygiene practices, as well as complying with health and travel advisories, guidelines and government orders on COVID-19. (Annex B: SG Clean checklists for hotels, and food and retail businesses)
ESG and STB have appointed qualified, independent assessment organisations to certify that participating establishments have met these requirements, and continue to maintain these practices. Businesses assessed to have met the criteria will be awarded the SG Clean quality mark.
