Despite repeated occurrences of the haze, eight out of 10 respondents to the Haze Survey indicated that their homes were ill-prepared to weather poor air quality by being stocked with masks and/or air purifiers.
The Haze Survey also revealed strong demand for better air quality readings from Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA). Nine out of 10 respondents said the NEA should provide spot/realtime Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) readings that indicate air quality.
A related question on the credibility of PSI readouts showed that 45% of respondents strongly agreed that they felt their health was at risk when the 3-hour PSI readings did not correspond with the situation they observed outside their window. When tallied with those who said they agree they felt their health at risk, the combined figure shot up to 72% of respondents.
About half the survey participants said they wore an N95 respirator in public during the haze while a noticeably higher percentage (65%) said they carried an N95 respirator while outdoors at some point during the haze crisis. This reveals the level of preparedness among respondents as they took proactive steps to protect their health by having N95 respirators while outdoors.
The statistic makes an interesting contrast to the 81% of respondents who said their homes were not haze ready when smoke from forest and plantation fires in Sumatra engulfed Singapore this June.
In all, 134 netizens from unique IP addresses responded to the poll.
The survey results show the urgency of a rethink of how NEA presents its PSI figures. Slavish adherence to current business practice would likely result in another erosion of public confidenceif when air pollution measurements shoot to Hazardous PSI levels like those registered in June 2013.
Many thanks to everyone who took part. Your feedback matters. Full results are presented below.
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The Haze Survey also revealed strong demand for better air quality readings from Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA). Nine out of 10 respondents said the NEA should provide spot/realtime Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) readings that indicate air quality.
A related question on the credibility of PSI readouts showed that 45% of respondents strongly agreed that they felt their health was at risk when the 3-hour PSI readings did not correspond with the situation they observed outside their window. When tallied with those who said they agree they felt their health at risk, the combined figure shot up to 72% of respondents.
About half the survey participants said they wore an N95 respirator in public during the haze while a noticeably higher percentage (65%) said they carried an N95 respirator while outdoors at some point during the haze crisis. This reveals the level of preparedness among respondents as they took proactive steps to protect their health by having N95 respirators while outdoors.
The statistic makes an interesting contrast to the 81% of respondents who said their homes were not haze ready when smoke from forest and plantation fires in Sumatra engulfed Singapore this June.
In all, 134 netizens from unique IP addresses responded to the poll.
The survey results show the urgency of a rethink of how NEA presents its PSI figures. Slavish adherence to current business practice would likely result in another erosion of public confidence
Many thanks to everyone who took part. Your feedback matters. Full results are presented below.
