– extracted and adapted from RAKAN Sarawak October-December 2021 –
Building inspection is a very important task for the issuance of building occupancy and licensing.
Failure of conducting careful inspection will cause disaster and loss in the events of calamity such as fire breakouts.
However, in doing so, there is also a problem faced by building inspectors such as firefighters that, they are faced with difficulty of lacking suitable equipment to follow the set standards in conducting building inspection.
Realising this is a problem faced by many, Team GADJET of the Miri Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Zone 6 devised a tool called SPECTOR GT V.1 for a more systematic and effective building inspection method.
In 2021, the team was one out of 15 recipients for the Gold Award of the Regional Innovation Showcase on Team Excellence (RISTEx) 2021 by the Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) for its innovation.
Title of project: Difficulty in conducting a building inspection
Date of establishment: 20th August 2020
Team members:
- PgKB I Law Poh Kiong (Coordinator)
- PgKB II Ahmad Nizam Bin Sapaiee (Facilitator)
- PKPgB Zakaria Bin Hj Aini (Team leader)
- PPgB Mohamd Ammar Firdaus Bin Ithnin (Prototype designing)
- PPgB Mohamad Surantona Bin Tonamli (Graphic/IT)
- PPgB Francis Aceh Anak Angai (Documentation officer)
- PBK II Kebing Ngau (Technical)
Date of project presentation: 25th August 2021
Project start date: 28th August 2020
Project implementation period: Eight months
Project completion date: 5th January 2021
Project Improvement start date: February 2021
Category of group: Primer
Innovation area: Service Delivery Innovation
Project category: Innovation Creation
Achievements of project:
- Konvensyen Kumpulan Inovatif dan Kreatif (KIK) Peringkat Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Negeri Sarawak – winner of best video presentation category
- Konvensyen KIK JBPM Negeri Sarawak 2021 – Runner up of Primer category
- RISTEx 2021 by MPC – Gold Award
- Sarawak Civil Service Innovation Convention Awards (SISCSA) 2021 – 3 Stars Award
- Pertandingan KIK Peringkat Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan (KPKT) 2021- Anugerah Khas (Potensi Komersial)
- Annual Productivity and Innovation Showcase & Exposition (ARISE) – 4 Star Award
The idea behind the innovation
During a brain storming session, the team has identified the most common problem encountered by firefighters when conducting inspection of buildings.
Among the most frequent problem are the unavailability of suitable equipment to conduct the inspection.
For the innovation project, Team GADJET has conducted an online questionnaire distributed to 29 respondents which includes government servants, building owners, contractors and consultants.
From the feedbacks, it was found that;
- 100% Respondents agree to lack of suitable equipment used to conduct inspection
- 86.2% Respondents agreed that the lack of equipment cause long term effect, waste of energy and putting the safety of the inspector at risk
- 86.2% Respondents agreed that stakeholders would suffer losses
- 100% Respondents agreed that the effect of the loss would be have a long -term
- 100% Respondents agreed that the solution to create a “user friendly” equipment to assist the inspection process
Objective of the innovation:
- Reduce the time period in conducting inspections
- More effective screening
- Reduces the risk of losing inspection tools
The outcome of the innovation is as follow:
| Comparison of Task Period | ||||
| No | Type of Inspection | Readily available tools in the market (time) | SPECTOR GT V1.0 (time) | Time difference |
| 1 | Ujian 1 Alat Pengesan Asap (Smoke detection) | 5 minute 23 seconds | 1 minute 5 seconds | 4 minutes 18 seconds |
| 2 | Ujian 1 alat Pengesan Haba (Heat detection) | 4 minutes 50 seconds | 1 minute 20 seconds | 3 minutes and 30 seconds |
| 3 | Ujian Dimensi Tangga (16 anak tangga) (Staircase dimension) | 1 minute 40 seconds | 20 seconds | 1 minute 20 seconds |
| 4 | Pemeriksaan 1 Konduit Logam (Metal conduit inspection) | 4 minutes 30 seconds | 1 minute 15 seconds | 3 minutes 15 seconds |
| 5 | Pemeriksaan 1 Dinding dua pihak (Wall inspection) | 7 minutes 25 seconds | 2 minutes 10 seconds | 5 minutes 15 seconds |
| Total time | 24 minutes 18 seconds | 6 minutes 10 seconds | 18 minutes 8 seconds | |
Future development and commercialization
From trials and the result outcome of the innovation, it is expected that work inspections can be conducted in an easier, faster and more effective by using SPECTOR GT V. 1.
The innovation shows potential to be replicated and distributed throughout the country and also to international market due.
This is mainly due to flexible nature, practicality, low-cost, easy installation and user friendly.
Through the use of SPECTOR GT V. 1, work inspections can be conducted in an easier, faster and more effective.
Among those that are expected to utilise the tool includes;
- Government agencies
- Malaysia Fire and Rescue Department
- Public Works Department
- Local Councils
- Department of Occupational Safety and Health
- Higher Learning Institutions
- Private agencies
- Consultants
- Engineers
- Architect
- Contractors
- Building managers
- Other potential users
- Building owners
- Future building buyers
- Security officers
