The National Environment Agency (NEA) has said that all tray return stands at hawker centres islandwide have to be chained securely against sturdy columns or walls, Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao reported on Tuesday.

This comes after a Jan 19 incident where two elderly women were sent to hospital after a tray-return stand fell over and struck them at an Ang Mo Kio hawker centre. Both women were eventually discharged.

The stand had a 0.4m-tall sign at the top indicating that it was a tray return point. The NEA has assessed that the stand had been placed next to a slight slope, and a strong gust of wind acting on the sign had caused the stand to roll down the slope and topple over, Lianhe Wanbao reported.

The NEA has since instructed that these signs be removed from all stands at the 36 hawker centres islandwide that have tray return facilities.