Signing off for better safety
Two inspectors check shop awnings in Hongkou District on Friday ahead of typhoon Lekima.
A sign board is dismantled in Hongkou District on Friday morning.
Inspectors and officials with the city's greenery and public sanitation authorities have been conducting checks of outdoor advertisements, shop signs and billboards citywide ahead of typhoon Lekima.
On Friday morning, shop signs that posed potential safety hazards on Tongxin Road, Hongkou District, were dismantled.
"The steel structure and welded seam of the signage were rusted, and the voltage transformer was not fixed," said Liu Siyu, a safety inspector.
Wu Daqing, deputy director of Hongkou District Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau, added that the wooden material also posed a problem as it would absorb water and gain weight increasing the risk of collapse.
Aluminum composite panels should have been used, he said.
A total of 170 shop signboards are being dismantled across Hongkou District ahead of the typhoon, said Wu.
"Wooden structures and electric appliances are particularly targeted in our inspections," said Chen Yanlin, another inspector.
"Irregularities in wiring can lead to electric shocks," said Chen.
At Gker, an industrial park in Hongkou, four big advertisement boards have been reinforced.
One is 23 meters above ground. Light nylon materials were used in reinforcement.
Since the flood season started in June, inspections and rectifications of signboards have been conducted citywide.
Friday's inspections covered areas with a large pedestrian flow, said Le Jiaye, deputy director of the landscape management department of Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau.
As of July this year, about 170,000 outdoor advertisement and signage structures had been checked citywide and 8,300 with safety hazards eliminated, according to the bureau. About 6,800 illegal outdoor signboards have been dismantled.
About 11,000 landscape lighting facilities were checked, and the safety risks of about 900 eliminated.
Garbage bins have been emptied, and the street clearing of fallen leaves stepped up to ensure smooth drainage, according to the bureau. Trees have been reinforced.
The front is removed.
The side partitions come down.
