Former Tuas Incineration Plant general manager fined S$145,000 for fatal 2021 safety lapses

On 20 November 2025, Ng Wah Yong pleaded guilty to one charge under the Workplace Safety and Health Act.

He was fined S$145,000 for lapses linked to a fatal arc flash explosion at the Tuas Incineration Plant on 23 September 2021.

The ruling came two days after the National Environment Agency was fined S$230,000 for related safety failures.

According to court proceedings, another NEA officer, Christopher Lee Yew Binn, faces a similar charge and will attend a pre-trial conference on 28 November.

Ng became general manager of the plant in 2018. His responsibilities included overseeing workplace safety and ensuring compliance with operational procedures.

The charge focused on two failures.

First, he did not ensure the permit-to-work system for high-voltage switchgear racking met regulatory requirements.

Second, he failed to establish safe working procedures for high-voltage operations.

According to defence lawyer Stephania Wong, the explosion occurred due to a rare fault in the switchgear’s safety mechanism.

She argued that the circuit breaker malfunction was unforeseeable.

Wong added that Ng inherited long-standing systems and had relied on authorised personnel.

She said the electrical maintenance branch had received training and signage was placed around equipment.

However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Agnes Chan said these points only explained the chronology. She argued that they did not diminish the role that systemic failures played in causing the deaths and injury.

The prosecutor said the permit-to-work system lacked a critical gatekeeping function.

Personnel without required qualifications were able to issue permits for hazardous work.

She added that Ng had not ensured the existence of clear safe work procedures for high-voltage racking. Workers received no specific guidance on the day of the accident.

According to the prosecution, NEA’s failures were significant.

The agency pleaded guilty on 18 November to not taking necessary measures to ensure employee safety.

The explosion killed two long-serving staff, Kwok Yeow Wai and Wee Eng Leng.

Engineer Low Yin Choon was seriously injured.

The trio entered the switchgear room after another engineer was unable to remotely switch off an induced draft fan.

He issued a permit-to-work despite not being legally qualified to do so.

Multiple attempts to trip the circuit breaker failed, and current to the fan surged.

According to the prosecution, the explosion occurred after prohibited live racking was performed while current was still flowing.

District Judge Luke Tan identified three key lapses.

These were a deficient permit-to-work system, inadequate protective equipment, and lack of safe work procedures.

NEA’s Senior Counsel Jason Chan argued the explosion was not caused by the lapses admitted.

The judge rejected this, saying multiple failures contributed to the conditions leading to the incident.

After sentencing, NEA issued a statement accepting responsibility.

It noted shortcomings in its permit-to-work system, control measures and high-voltage safety procedures.

The Tuas Incineration Plant ceased operations in February 2022 after 36 years of service. It was decommissioned in July 2022.

NEA said no other serious or fatal work injuries had occurred at the facility before this incident.