SMRT dismisses 8 employees involved in Oct 7 tunnel flooding incident

SINGAPORE — Rail operator SMRT has sacked eight employees – comprising one senior executive, two managers and five technical staff – following the conclusion of its internal investigation and disciplinary inquiry into the Oct 7 tunnel flooding incident.

Issuing a statement on Monday (Nov 27) which laid out the details of its disciplinary actions, SMRT also suggested it may pursue legal action against former vice president Tay Tien Seng and senior manager Ivan Kok who had “failed to exercise sufficient supervision during the period when the falsification of the pump maintenance records occurred”.

The two men were no longer with the company, and SMRT said it “reserves its right to pursue legal action against them as may be appropriate”.

Another three management executives, including a vice president, were disciplined according to SMRT’s internal disciplinary framework for “failing to exercise the due care and diligence expected of them in relation to the maintenance of the pumps”.

In all, 13 staff were responsible for the incident, which saw train services disrupted for more than 20 hours, affecting more than 250,000 commuters.

The disruption was caused by flooding in a section of the MRT tunnel on the North-South Line between the Braddell and Bishan MRT stations.

It was later discovered that maintenance works for the Bishan portal sump pump system were not properly carried out since December last year.

Preliminary investigations last month showed that quarterly maintenance works for December last year, as well as March and June this year were not conducted as prescribed in SMRT’s manual. However, the maintenance records were signed off and submitted.

SMRT said it is learning from this incident and has strengthened its maintenance processes and supervisory checks, including setting up an independent third-party team to conduct checks.

It reiterated that it has set up a joint readiness inspection team with the Land Transport Authority to ensure that maintenance and asset replacement are independently audited and monitored in a systematic way.

Mr Melvin Yong, executive secretary of the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU), said in a media statement that the union “does not condone any action or inaction by workers that could cause harm to fellow workers and commuters or damage the operations of our public transport system”.

“NTWU will support disciplinary actions executed by SMRT that are fairly and consistently applied to all workers concerned,” said Mr Yong.

“On our part, NTWU is in contact with affected union members. We will assist them to find alternative employment and where necessary, provide financial assistance.”

He noted that Mr Tay and Mr Kok had resigned and left the company “prior to the conclusion of the disciplinary inquiry”, and SMRT has reserved the right to pursue legal action against them as may be appropriate.

Mr Tay had made the news recently when he was among the recipients of a SkillsFuture fellowship in August – an award given to “exemplary Singaporeans and employers”, recognising their “skills mastery in their respective fields as well as personal commitment to mentorship and the skills development of others”.