The Army will be expanding the number of safety inspection teams and full-time safety officers to conduct checks and audits on units’ safety systems, following the death of Singaporean actor and reservist Corporal First Class (National Service) Aloysius Pang on Wednesday (23 Jan) after sustaining serious injuries while carrying out repair works inside the Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer (SSPH) in New Zealand.
Chief of Army Major-General Goh Si Hou spoke to the media after the Command Call, saying that following the incident with the Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer, a safety time-out was put in place to allow the Army to review its safety processes until 7 February.
He said that commanders have asked soldiers to actively provide feedback and work together to identify areas of safety enhancements and soldiers are also encouraged to report unsafe practices to their commanders or to the Army Safety Hotline.
He noted that he Army has also decided that the safety time-out will only be progressively lifted after Thursday (7 February).
All Army units will be allowed to resume basic types of training such as physical fitness training, small arms live-firing, Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) and IPPT Preparatory Training (IPT) for Operationally Ready National Servicemen (NSmen) – with effect from Thursday (7 February).
In the gathering on Thursday (31 January) at Pasir Laba Camp, the Chief of Defence Force (CDF) Lieutenant-General (LG) Melvyn Ong spoke to 750 Active and Operationally Ready National Service (NS) commanders, where he shared plans to strengthen all-round the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF)’s safety system to make training safer for all SAF servicemen.
He stated that with training tempo reduced for the next few months, all units across the SAF will do a comprehensive review of their training programmes with the aim of reducing training risk for all servicemen.
The reduction of training tempo will also free up capacity for units to allocate more time to prepare for, execute, and learn from each training activity, he noted.
LG Ong stressed that in no uncertain terms that units can only be operationally effective if they have high safety standards, with the right culture and mindset of zero tolerance for unsafe practices.
He also called for all servicemen to adopt a “zero accident” mindset, where people go about their daily tasks with alertness and mindfulness, in order to “do things right the first time, every time”.
LG Ong strongly emphasised that each commander must drive safety as the topmost priority in their units. They will be held accountable and the well-being of their men is just as important as how well their units perform in exercises and training.
He added that commanders also need to train every soldier to watch over his own safety and that of his buddies. CDF and the Service Chiefs, together with commanders at all levels, will personally conduct more visits to the ground to ensure that training in SAF units is safe.
LG Ong said, “Safety is a command responsibility. Commanders answer for the training and safety of their men. To do so, commanders have to be fully committed and personally and intimately involved in their unit’s training, operations, and safety.”
“The reduction in training tempo will allow us commanders to take stock, re-orientate, and give full attention to this,” he added.
LG Ong also announced that an Inspector-General’s Office will be set up to support the CDF in ensuring that command emphasis on safety is consistently applied across all Services and units. This Office will have the full authority to scrutinise and enforce safety processes and practices at all levels of the SAF.
The Command Call was also attended by Chief of Air Force Major-General Mervyn Tan, Chief of Navy Rear-Admiral Lew Chuen Hong and all senior commanders of the SAF.
Earlier before, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) stated that a “Committee of Inquiry (COI) was convened on 25 January 2019 by the Armed Forces Council to investigate the circumstances leading to the death of CFC (NS) Pang.”
Commenting on this matter, netizens said that the Government should set things up before accident happens. A netizen earlier counted that at least 8 Singaporeans died in the past 1.5 years while serving their nation.
Elisa Boon wrote, “Sigh. Why do we always have to wait for deaths to get things done. Shouldn’t all these been setup right at the start?”
Johnson Lum JL wrote, “All Rubbishes which with a Safety Officer during training , death still occur.
Still remember the Smoke Grenada case which the Safety Officer didn’t observe the number of Grenada use. Death occurs and the Safety Officer was promoted 1 year later to the rank of Major.”
Meyer Tan wrote, “Sounds an excellent idea.
Now all the retired Generals should be posted to this unit ensure continued employment and also to prevent mess they already created outside the military scope.”
Jeff Link TK wrote, “In the army, preemptions is the norm and not wait for consequences to dictate the course of action! How to defend the nation?”
Blow Blow Fish wrote, “After so many death incident, the ministry only wake up now? Too late. The public has lost their confidence in MINDEF.”
