SMRT has announced today that 6 staff will face disciplinary action for falsifying records that scheduled rail maintenance works were completed when no works were carried out.
Poor maintenance of a pump system at Bishan depot, that the team was in charge of, led to a section of the Bishan station flooding following a heavy downpour on 7 Oct. The flooding, which was the first flooding of an MRT station in Singapore’s history, caused a 20-hour service breakdown on the North-South line.
The transport operator revealed in a press release today that disciplinary proceedings will commence against six staff who are from the Building & Facilities Maintenance group. These staff comprise of a manager, an engineering supervisor and four crew members.
SMRT added that seven other managerial staff from the Building & Facilities Maintenance group are being investigated over their discharge of supervisory responsibility and have been suspended.
These seven staff includes two Vice-President level executives.
SMRTÂ clarified that this incident will be taken into account “when reviewing the remuneration of its senior management, from the CEO through the relevant chain of command.”
Besides this, the transport operator asserted that all other maintenance units have affirmed their continuing compliance with maintenance standards.
It also added:Â “An amnesty was extended to all staff who step forward and voluntarily report gaps. The amnesty ended on 3 November 2017, and a number of submissions relating to scheduled maintenance works not being carried out have been received from the Building & Facilities Maintenance group, which is also responsible for the Bishan water discharge system. The returns are being studied.”
While LTA’s separate investigations into the Bishan Tunnel flooding incident are ongoing with SMRT’s cooperation, a newly formed Joint Readiness Inspection team will complement SMRT’s Internal Audit and Inspectorate teams to “step up on enforcement of ground practices and standards.”
SMRT concluded:
“SMRT will continue our journey to instil our core values of discipline, integrity and ownership. We will sharpen our performance management processes, further streamline organisational structures and strengthen the line of sight and accountability so we can steer our teams to achieve higher standards in safety, service and reliability outcomes. We will also enhance the training support for our supervisors so that they are better enabled and empowered to carry out their duties well.”