Cleaning windows can be dangerous. It is a wrong mix of height, reaching, soap and water. Not a good combination at all. Thus accidents will persist because it is fundamentally an unsafe act. No amount of training, regulations, penalties and law will solve the problem. It may reduce the statistics but one death is one too many.

Thinking out of the box, I realised that windows do not always have to open outwards.

Seeing this as an opportunity, I proceeded to bring in a Finnish product. Balcony Glazing System is a system that opens windows inwards, without frames and totally openable. Thus making it most suitable for balconies.

The open inward as oppose to open outward/sliding design makes the cleaning job so much easier and so much safer. This would change the cleaning process fundamentally making it safer.

After all the negotiations, I managed to secure the right to distribute and market the product in Singapore and Malaysia. I send the system for a performance test in PSB's lab. It passed the test.

Obstacles arose when I tried to introduce the system to the HDB.

My objective was to get on the approved material list so that when the HDB architects/designers work on the flats, they have a list of pre-approved materials to design with.

But my product was rejected as the HDB deemed that it was never their plan to enclose balconies and thus no approval would be granted. Moreover, there is no such category as Balcony Glazing.

To start a new category, I was told it is a Herculean task. So I suggested that I would like to submit it as a new type of window system instead of balcony glazing system.

The answer is still no because this system does not fit into either casement or sliding sub category of a window systems.

When I talked to the officer-in-charge, a Senior Architect, he said he thought that the product would not be received well and advised me not to make a submission.

I sent him an email and gave him more info to re-evaluate his decision but I have yet to get a reply. Getting him over the phone was harder. So much for encouraging entrepreneurship.

While I have had some success in the business, the sales volume does not justify the operational costs. I have to retrench staff and move the operation to Malaysia.

The problem of not thinking out of the box or being creative will be big stumbling block for the nation to progress further.

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