GEIS-新闻详情

NEA and two of its employees charged over 2021 Tuas Incineration Plant explosion that killed 2 men

2023-12-26 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE – The National Environment Agency (NEA) and two of its employees have been charged with workplace safety offences over a 2021 explosion at the Tuas Incineration Plant (TIP), which killed two men and injured another.

The charges, handed down on Dec 26, allege that NEA failed to take necessary measures to ensure the safety and health of its employees at work, contributing to the deaths of two of them, Mr Kwok Yeow Wai and Mr Wee Eng Leng.

The alleged failures of NEA also led to another employee, Mr Low Yin Choon, being injured.

Christopher Lee Yew Binn, 50, divisional director of the waste infrastructure operations and management division of NEA at the time, and Ng Wah Yong, 54, then general manager of TIP, were handed one charge each under the Workplace Safety and Health Act.

In a Facebook post after the charges were handed down, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said she will be making a statement at the next Parliament sitting in January to address the incident and charges.

She said of the fatal explosion: “It was an extremely sad and painful incident for all of us in the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment family. We continue to mourn the loss of our two colleagues.”

The explosion at the plant in Tuas Avenue 20 happened on Sept 23, 2021, at about 3.15pm.

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The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Attorney-General’s Chambers said in a joint press statement after the charges were handed down that the control room at the plant was unable to remotely switch off an industrial fan.

Mr Kwok, Mr Wee and Mr Low were sent to troubleshoot the fault and were inside an electrical switch room when the blast occurred.

The three men, aged between 59 and 65, were all Singaporean. One of them was pronounced dead at the scene. The other two had burn injuries and were taken to hospital, where one of them died three days later.

NEA had said after the incident that all three were senior staff of the plant’s electrical maintenance branch, each with more than 35 years of service.

According to the charge sheets, NEA did not ensure that the permit-to-work system implemented for high-voltage switchgear racking works complied with electrical installation regulations.

The agency also allegedly failed to adequately implement control measures and establish safe work procedures for high-voltage switchgear racking works.

Ng was also charged with failing to ensure that the permit-to-work system complied with regulations, among other acts of negligence. Lee was charged with approving the permit-to-work system although it did not comply with regulations.