Sacking of staff over train accident part of fair disciplinary process: SMRT

SINGAPORE — Defending its decision to sack two employees over the train accident that killed two men at Pasir Ris MRT Station, SMRT Corporation disclosed in an email to employees on Wednesday (Sept 14) that warning letters and performance downgrades were given to several others as part of a “fair, thorough and comprehensive” disciplinary process.

There was a public outcry after news broke on Wednesday morning that the transport operator had fired two employees, including the train driver, involved in the March 22 tragedy, where two trainees doing routine maintenance work were hit by an oncoming train.

In an email to all SMRT staff members later on Wednesday, SMRT Trains’ managing director Lee Ling Wee said: “It is important for SMRT Trains staff to know that our disciplinary process is fair ... We do not single out any staff or department to bear the responsibility when things go wrong.”

Mr Lee went on to explain that the two employees were “dismissed” on Tuesday “as a result of the disciplinary process” that was centred on the fatal accident, and two union representatives were present. The process was “fair, thorough and comprehensive”, and verbal and written warning letters were issued to employees “across several grades”. 

Individual performance grades were “recalibrated downwards across various levels of the Trains team, including senior management and staff”, he wrote.

Given that staff members involved in safety breaches on the rail network had been dismissed for safety lapses, he said that it was “untenable” that the two employees dismissed were not treated “consistently with (SMRT’s) firm stance on safety”. 

“We did this in an all-out effort to never again repeat safety lapses,” Mr Lee said.

Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari, 24, and Nasrulhudin Najumudin, 26, were killed on the tracks near Pasir Ris MRT Station, the first time a fatality involving SMRT staff members has happened on the North-South and East-West Lines.

Mr Lee pointed out that SMRT did not release any names of the employees, neither did it comment on the dismissal. SMRT staff members approached by TODAY did not want to comment on the email’s content and warnings issued.

Online, the public continued to slam SMRT on Thursday, with Facebook user Tiong Guan Chua saying that the train operator should not “find a scapegoat” and that the “management must take the rap” if it is a “systemic failure” that caused the accident. 

Another Facebook user Johan Sim said: “In Japan ... when something wrong happened to a company, the CEO comes out to apologise and bow to the public ... accountability goes right to the top.” 

In a post on its website, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) echoed this view, saying that SMRT “may be unjustifiably absolving its other staff members — especially those at the highest levels — of any responsibility over the mishap”.

It cited the case last year of the hepatitis-C outbreak in Singapore General Hospital, where disciplinary action was taken against 12 hospital staff members in “leadership positions” and four Health Ministry officers holding “director-level or equivalent roles” over the incident which resulted in 25 patients being affected by the virus, of whom eight died.

“The sanctions, ranging from warnings to financial penalties, were meted out only after an inquiry into the saga was completed,” it said. 

The train operator’s decision to dismiss the two employees “raises serious questions”, the SDP said, because it took place before official investigations were completed. The party also called for Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan to address SMRT’s decision to dismiss the workers.