NEA division director granted discharge for offence linked to fatal Tuas plant explosion

SINGAPORE – A division director at the National Environment Agency (NEA) has been granted a discharge for his offence relating to the 2021 Tuas Incineration Plant (TIP) explosion which killed two men.

Mr Christopher Lee Yew Binn, 52, who was director of NEA’s waste infrastructure operations and management division at the time, had faced one charge under the Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSHA).

Without disclosing details, an Attorney-General’s Chambers spokesperson told The Straits Times on Nov 29: “After careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the matter, the prosecution has compounded the matter at the maximum sum of $5,000, which Lee paid on (Nov 25).”

Compounding an offence means settling it out of court, typically by paying a monetary sum, without admitting guilt or facing a conviction. It is offered at the prosecution’s discretion.

After the composition sum was paid, the court granted Mr Lee a discharge amounting to an acquittal on Nov 28, said the spokesperson. This means Mr Lee cannot be charged again with the same offence.

NEA was fined $230,000 on Nov 18

after admitting to one charge of failing to take necessary measures to ensure the safety and health of its employees at work.

Another NEA officer, Ng Wah Yong, 56, who was the general manager of TIP at the time, was

fined $145,000 on Nov 20

after pleading guilty to one charge under the WSHA.

NEA, Ng and Mr Lee were charged with workplace safety offences in December 2023 following an investigation that involved several agencies, including the Ministry of Manpower and the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

The explosion on Sept 23, 2021

, claimed the lives of two NEA employees – Mr Kwok Yeow Wai and Mr Wee Eng Leng. A third employee, engineer Low Yin Choon, was seriously injured.

Mr Kwok, Mr Wee and Mr Low had been sent to troubleshoot a fault and were inside an electrical switch room when the blast occurred.

Mr Kwok, 65, was pronounced dead at the scene. Mr Wee, 64, and Mr Low, 59, had burn injuries and were taken to hospital, where Mr Wee died three days later.

NEA had said after the incident that all three were senior staff of the plant’s electrical maintenance branch, each with more than 35 years of service.

During NEA’s court mention on Nov 18, District Judge Luke Tan agreed with the prosecution then that there had been three lapses in work safety measures that led to the explosion in 2021.

These were: failure to ensure the permit-to-work (PTW) system for high-voltage switchgear racking work complied with regulations; lack of proper equipment, such as fire-retardant clothing for employees at the facility; and lack of safe work procedures.

Judge Tan rejected arguments by the defence, which had attributed the arc flash explosion to prohibited live racking work and a jammed piston.

In throwing out the argument that the explosion was not NEA’s fault, the judge said multiple areas of failure on the part of the agency contributed to the conditions that led to the incident.

Ng was appointed general manager of the TIP some time in 2018, with duties including overseeing employee safety and health at the plant, as well as workplace safety.

The charge he admitted to focused on two major failures on his part as general manager of the plant: failing to ensure that the PTW system for high-voltage switchgear racking work complied with regulatory requirements, and failing to establish safe working procedures for such operations.

In a statement after the fine was meted out, NEA said it is taking responsibility for the shortcomings cited, including its PTW system, control measures and safety procedures for high-voltage work at the plant.

The agency halted operations at the incineration plant in February 2022 after 36 years of service, as planned. The facility was eventually decommissioned in July that year.

No other serious or fatal work injuries happened at the plant in all its years of operation.