A Giant Leap Towards Organisational Excellence

SCDF is extremely honoured to have received a total of eight awards at the Public Service Transformation (PST) Awards Ceremonies held in July 2022. The PST Awards Ceremony recognises public officers and agencies for their excellence in their work and organisational best practices, including COVID-19 related efforts.

This year, SCDF is the sole recipient for the Business Transformation Award, a first for the Force since the award was introduced in 2019. The Business Transformation Award recognises the transformation efforts to enhance our operations and services to be more citizen-centric, responsive and resource-effective. This prestigious award is also a strong endorsement of our innovative and people-centric focus towards building a Nation of Lifesavers.

^{Mr Chan Chun Sing (right), Minister for Education and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service, presenting the Business Transformation Award to Commissioner Eric Yap (left)}

Inspiring Excellence

One of the recipients of the Exemplary Leader Award was Assistant Commissioner (AC) Alan Chow, who played an instrumental role in leading the Civil Defence Academy (CDA) on its transformation journey. 

In supporting the nation’s fight against COVID-19, AC Alan Chow led his team in the setup, conversion and management of a temporary dormitory in CDA while ensuring the continuity of essential training curriculums under strict safety management measures during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020.

^{Assistant Commissioner (AC) Alan Chow Mun Keong (left), Director Civil Defence Academy (CDA), receiving the Exemplary Leader Award from Mr Leo Yip (right), Head Civil Service. Source: Public Service Division, Prime Minister’s Office}

Another recipient of the Exemplary Leader Award was Colonel (COL) Firoz who has led and inspired a highly competent team to develop the Responders’ Performance Vehicle (RPV) that enhanced frontline responders’ performance and safety through quick on-site cooling capabilities. Under his exemplary leadership, COL Firoz created a healthy and innovative work culture for his team, which led to the successful implementation of the RPV.

“The GROW (Goals; Reality; Options; Will) coaching model is what I adopt in inspiring and guiding my team to strive for excellence in all that they do. In the process, I also encouraged them to remain innovative by consistently streamlining and enhancing work processes and systems,” remarked COL Firoz.

^{Colonel (COL) Md Firoz Ramjan (left), then Deputy Director (Training), CDA, receiving the Exemplary Leader Award from Mr Chan Chun Sing (right), Minister for Education and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service}

Thinking Outside the Box

Receiving the Exemplary Innovator Award for their contributions on the Operational Medical Networks Informatics Integrator (OMNII) are representatives from SCDF, Ministry of Health (MOH), Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) and Integrated Health information Systems (IHiS).

The OMNII is the first nationwide Pre-hospital Emergency Care (PEC) digital project that allows the primary PEC stakeholders to view, share and document relevant patient data to improve patient care management.

^{Representatives who received the Exemplary Innovator Award for their contribution on the OMNII. [From left to right] Ms Tang Hwee Suan, Director Ministry of Health Holdings (MOHH) Entities Technology Services (METS), Integrated Health information Systems (IHiS); Dr Michael Chia, Senior Consultant (Emergency Medicine) and Deputy Director, Unit for Pre-hospital Emergency Care, Ministry of Health (MOH); Mr Chan Chun Sing (right), Minister for Education and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service; SAC Yong Meng Wah, Director Emergency Medical Services Department, SCDF; Ms Fannie Lim, Principal Systems Architect, Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), and Mr Roi Tai, Head Frontline Mobility Systems, Civil Defence Programme Management Centre, Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX)}

In addition, WO2 Anuar Bin Osman and WO1 Muhammad Asri Bin Sapari were two other recipients who received the Exemplary Innovator Award for their innovative work and strong advocacy for digital transformation.

WO2 Anuar has been involved in projects such as the 3D printing of the Chemical Agent training device and research into heat injury prevention for frontline operations. WO2 Anuar is currently working on implementing these innovations throughout the SCDF which will help improve frontline operations, training and safety, and enable the organisation to save costs and streamline upstream procurement efforts. WO2 Anuar is a firm advocate of critical thinking and is ever ready to face challenges by approaching them from different perspectives.

^{WO2 Anuar Bin Osman (left), Deputy Rota Commander, Paya Lebar Fire Station, receiving the Exemplary Innovator Award from Mr Chan Chun Sing (right), Minister for Education and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service}

WO1 Muhammad Asri Sapari is a Paramedic Specialist from Jurong Fire Station and he has been a strong advocate for digital transformation despite having little background in computer science and IT related skills. WO1 Asri went to great lengths and taught himself programming and design thinking. Eventually, he developed up to five mobile applications which helped enhance the frontline operations process of our emergency medical services. One of them is the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Dojo application which provides a realistic real-time interactive defibrillator for training purposes.

“Ever since I was prompted by a Public Service Division Challenge article asking, ‘What do you imagine the Public Officer of the Future to be?’, I was inspired and read up on how Singapore has strengthened its capabilities with technology,” said WO1 Asri.

He added, “I was inspired at how technological innovations have made processes more seamless and integrated. I decided to apply the same methodical approach and apply digital transformation to my work at the frontline, to optimise our frontline operations and processes.”

^{WO1 Muhammad Asri Sapari}

Serving the Public with Dedication

WO1 Edil Fitri Sayani is a dedicated officer who had gone beyond the extra mile to volunteer outside of work hours to assist MOH as a Swabber during the initial phase of COVID-19. In addition, WO1 Edil actively stepped up and helped when there were shortages in manpower at his fire station during the pandemic. In recognition for his commitment and contributions in the fight against the pandemic, WO1 Edil was awarded the Exemplary Service Excellence Award.

“Having seen how the number of cases was growing exponentially and how it would take a toll on the healthcare system, I decided to volunteer as a Swabber. I felt it was a call to duty and a moral obligation to do what I can to help make a difference” WO1 Edil commented.

^{WO1 Edil Fitri Sayani (left), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Section Commander, Bukit Batok Fire Station, receiving the Exemplary Service Excellence Award from Mr Leo Yip (right), Head Civil Service. Source: Public Service Division, Prime Minister’s Office}

One Public Service Award

Last but not least, SCDF received the One Public Service Award in recognition of the contributions towards the development of One Client View (OneCV).

Developed by the Ministry of Social and Family Development and Government Technology Agency, with the support of 15 agencies, OneCV is a system that is intuitive and user-friendly with a strong data governance framework.

With OneCV, frontline officers from various agencies are now able to obtain comprehensive and accurate information about their clients within a few clicks after clients have given their consent.

This frees up the bandwidth for higher-value work such as case assessment and coordinating support with other agencies. For clients, OneCV reduces administrative load as they no longer need to repeat their submissions of applications when applying for different schemes.

Since the launch of OneCV in February 2021, more than 163,000 screenings were performed by 2,500 officers from 40 agencies.

Rescue 995 extends its congratulations to all award recipients!

^{Eighteen representatives from respective agencies, including SCDF, who had received the One Public Service Award for their exemplary inter-agency initiatives in Strengthening Social Service Delivery through the development of One Client View}

^{(From left) COL Lim Beng Hui, Commander 3rd SCDF Division, Lim Wei Hang Edison, SSO Rewards & Recognition (One Public Service Award representative), WO2 Anuar Bin Osman, Deputy Rota Commander, Paya Lebar Fire Station, AC Leow Chew Hong, Director Transformation Future Technology Department (TFTD), Comr Eric Yap, Commissioner SCDF, SAC Yong Meng Wah, Director Emergency Medical Services Department (representing the OMNII team), COL Md Firoz Ramjan, then Deputy Director (Training), CDA, LTC Mohd Rashid Bin Talib, Senior Assistant Director TFTD (Informatics) and MAJ Ellena Koh, SSO Capability Development, Training & Professional Development Department}