Despite the ongoing pandemic in Singapore, the quest for learning in the NUS Alumni Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Society does not cease. The NUS Alumni SHE Society has been hosting the Workplace, Health and Fire Safety Workshop Series since May 2020, which aims to provide a platform for SHE Masters Alumni to continue in the journey of professional development, and for fellow SHE practitioners to exchange ideas in the field of safety, health and environment.

On 28 May, the Society was thrilled to host the fifth workshop in this series virtually, attracting more than 80 attendees for an informative and lively discussion. One area of interest was “Combustible Dust Hazards” – highly relevant to many industries, especially after the recent explosion at an industrial building in Tuas. The speaker, Er. Srinivasan Premkumar (Engineering ’07), a Process Safety Specialist from ALARP Process Safety Solutions shared the critical aspects of combustible dust, which includes the nature of combustible dust, process safety concerns, risk management approaches, as well as the relevant local and international standards.

The workshop also hosted Mr. Amos Wong Mun Fai (Engineering ’95), an Industry Specialist who gave insights on “Developments in Clean Agent Fire Suppression”. This topic also garnered interest as many industries seek the best solutions in addressing fire hazards while protecting valuable assets during a fire emergency. He also shared a recent development in the fire protection industry to protect multiple areas by using a single clean agent supply.

Aside from the speakers’ sharing, the workshop saw vibrant discussions among fellow alumni and SHE practitioners on the topics raised. The invited speakers also assisted with queries from the crowd, keeping the conversation robust.

The workshop was also joined by Dr Ivan Sin Siang Meng (Science ’92), Program Chair for the Master of Science in Safety, Health and Environmental Technology, who added, “We hope more alumni and like-minded SHE practitioners will join us to build this SHE-togetherness, connecting and re-connecting with fellow SHE practitioners.”

In the second quarter of 2021, when India was grappling with the massive second wave of COVID-19, alumnus Mr Vishal Ladha (Computing ’17), Ms Ishita Dhamani (Arts and Social Sciences ‘09) and Mr Anoj Viswanathan (Engineering ‘10), along with alumni from NUS, NTU and SMU, launched a global crowdfunding campaign to source oxygen concentrators for India. The campaign was run on Milaap, a platform founded by Anoj, and was called Mission Singapore Universities Mission Oxygen (SUMO). Through innovative marketing tactics, the campaign went viral and within 15 days, Mission SUMO raised S$235,000 from 902 supporters around the world!

To manage the end-to-end aid process from procurement, logistics, to last mile deployment in Indian towns and villages, the Mission SUMO team assembled a globally diverse team of alumni spread across the Singapore, Philippines and India in just 12 hours. They also collaborated with some alumni to organise an online fundraising concert called Sukoon, which raised close to SGD 8,000 through ticket sales.

Oxygen concentrators bought through the initiative were given to several organisations like Community Engagement Lab (CEL), Red Cross and Mission Mercy, which are actively working on the ground to help COVID-19 patients struggling to gain access to medical oxygen.