The Environmental Control Coordinator (ECC) plays a crucial role in the entire Environmental Sanitation Regime (ESR), which was rolled out in stages since 31 July 2021.
A person who wants to be an ECC must first complete the ECC training and assessment, be proficient in English, pay the registration fee and register with the National Environment Agency (NEA) as an ECC.
Read on to find out how to what is an ECC and the steps to become one.
What is Environmental Control Coordinator (ECC)?
An Environmental Control Coordinator (ECC) is a trained person who is registered with the National Environment Agency (NEA). He/she will hold a certificate of registration (issued by NEA) and a training certificate (issued by a recognised training provider of the ECC training).
The ECC is one of the main stakeholders of the ESR, which is a national wide regime that targets facilities with immuno-vulnerable occupants (with low immunity to infectious diseases) and public places that experience high footfall. These specified premises, like an elderly care centre, pre-school or the hawker centres (starting ESR in Nov 2021) will be required to follow a set of environmental sanitation guidelines to keep their premises clean and safe for their users.
The licence/business owner of the premises, also known as the Premises Manager (PM), is required by law to appoint an ECC to help him develop, implement and review the Environmental Sanitation Programme (ESP) in his/her specified premises.
The ESP is a checklist of environmental sanitation tasks (like the cleaning frequencies of all the areas in the specified premises, the training of cleaning personnel and the engagement of pest management) customised for the specified premises.
What is the job of an ECC?
The ECC has long list of responsibilities.
Basically, the ECC has to help the PM to develop, implement and review the ESP for the specified premises where the ECC is working at.
In order to implement the ESP, the ECC has to manage the various stakeholders, like the landlord, the users, cleaners and contractors (and many many more!).
The ECC also has to set up schedules to inspect the cleaning quality of the cleaners (day-to-day basis) and the state of cleanliness of the specified premises (long term/periodic basis) in order to identify gaps and recommend corrective actions / improvements to the PM to review the ESP of the specified premises.
How do I become an ECC?
Complete ECC training
To be an ECC, a person must first complete the ECC training. Currently, only a handful of training providers (all of which are approved training organisations of the SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG)) offer the ECC training. You may refer to the list of ECC training providers on our main web page.
The ECC training is a 2-day training programme (complete with an assessment) that covers all the duties of the ECCs, including understanding the regulations that govern the ESR, and how to develop and ESP. Topics like infectious disease, cleaning and disinfection, pest management and Indoor Air Quality, all of which are part of the ESP, will be taught, so that the ECCs will know, for example, how to guide/assess their cleaners.
Upon passing the assessment, the person will receive a training certificate (which is also SSG-recognised). This certificate is valid for 5 years, which makes the person eligible to register as an ECC. Thereafter, the person must re-take the assessment in order to be eligible to register as an ECC.
Register with NEA to be an ECC
To be a full-fledged ECC, the person must register himself with NEA. During the registration process. the person must:
- Submit ECC training certificate
- Submit proof of English language proficiency (equivalent to WPL 5)
- Pay registration fee of $120
- Provide other personal information as required
Upon successful registration, the ECC will receive a certificate of registration from the NEA, which will include his/her ECC registration number and the expiry date of the registration. The ECC certificate of registration is valid for 3 years.
Who can be an ECC?
Can use English for work
An ECC has to be proficient in English, as he/she will need to fill up and implement the ESP (which must also be submitted to the NEA in English). Therefore, the ECC must hold the equivalent of WPL 5 (GCE “N” Levels).
Foreigners can also be an ECC. However, if you come from a country where English is not the medium of teaching, you may be required to take the WPL certification. Many polytechnics, private training organisations as well as the British Council offers the WPL tests (and preparatory classes).
Familiar with cleaning and sanitation
Someone who is familiar with the cleaning services will be an ideal candidate as an ECC, as the ECC is supposed to oversee the cleanliness of his workplace.
Have supervisory skills
This ECC also needs to have good coordination and interpersonal skills, as he will have to manage various stakeholders in the course of his work. He/she has to be organised and analytical; he/she has to know how to maintain cleanliness (what cleaning process and what cleaning agents to use for various areas and situations) and plan for replenishing inventory or manpower shortage etc.
Basic IT literacy
The soft copy of the ESP has to be submitted to NEA online. Additionally, the ECC registration process is also done online. Therefore, the ECC must be comfortable with using computers (especially using Microsoft Word/Google Docs and internet browsers like Chrome/Firefox/Edge) for work purposes. People who wants to be an ECC, but is not IT-savvy can enroll in 1-day SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace (SFDW), which is being offered by numerous training providers for fees as low as $50.
Sources:
National Environmental Agency (Environmental Sanitation Regime): https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/public-cleanliness/ESR
National Environmental Agency (ECC Registration): https://licence1.business.gov.sg/feportal/web/frontier/home
SkillsFuture Singapore (SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace): https://www.skillsfuture.gov.sg/
SkillsFuture Singapore (Workplace Literacy (WPL) and Workplace Numeracy (WPN) Series): https://www.ssg.gov.sg/individuals/wpl-and-wpn-series.html
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