Last Updated on 2016-05-19 , 1:53 pm
By now, most people would have heard about the two SMRT staff who passed away on Tuesday morning when a train hit them. Like many others, when I first heard the news, I thought it was another train disruption.
Then as news poured in, I found out that two SMRT staff were hit by a train. This was shocking and I wanted more information but there wasn’t any then. Curious, I scrolled through comments on Facebook pages of various news channels and it seemed that netizens could provide me with the information I wanted.
Everyone had a statement to make, an opinion to voice: Maintenance should only be done after operating hours. Why were the staff on the track in the day? Is it because SMRT wants to cut costs and not pay OT? Wait, don’t they have night shift maintenance staff?
Assumptions were rife as people began to air their views online. Here’s the thing. When we want answers fast, we might just look for one without verifying the facts, but that would have repercussions. After all, whatever we say online can go viral within hours, and false information or mere speculation could be interpreted as facts.
It’s tempting to lose our objectivity when lives are lost and emotions are running high. I’m pretty sure everyone wants to know what happened, but investigations of the tragedy definitely need time, more so when you think about the various authorities involved and the logistics of such an undertaking. If people want an answer, it should be one that isn’t based merely on hearsay like those floating around on the Internet, but official records and evidence.
From what is understood, SMRT is supporting the MOM and Police in their investigations, and has provided up-to-date information on the situation thus far.
On the day of the incident, the transport company issued statements and called for a media briefing to acknowledge that they are assisting in investigations at the moment, and do not have all the answers to the questions.
The following day, they issued a media statement which was an indirect admission that there were safety lapses in the system. Brave move on SMRT’s part as investigations were still ongoing as the usual practice is to not reveal anything until investigations have concluded.
We have learnt that what apparently happened was that at 8:08 a.m. on 22 March, a signalling condition monitoring device near Pasir Ris MRT Station registered a warning.
At 10:54 a.m., the Permanent Way team and the Signal team were authorized to access the maintenance walkway, and they were walking in a single file on the walkway to reach the point to investigate the warning. This was what SMRT CEO meant when he said that safety protocols had been followed.
However, he also pointed out that to commence work, there should be a procedure to stop oncoming trains and on the day of the incident, that was not implemented. SMRT has accepted full responsibility for this lapse.
While we might still have questions—why did the team not carry out the second procedure, who was responsible for that; these questions should not be answered by us. Spare a thought for the SMRT staff (one of them was a father-son-brother team working in the same company). Imagine the anger, pain and grief they are feeling, and the many “whys” not just between colleagues but also across work teams in the same company.
Making more unfounded allegations and posting online just to vent your anger or to show how righteous you are would invade the privacy of the family members or compromise the investigations. We should let the investigators do their jobs and wait patiently for answers. Most importantly, we should allow the families of the victims to grieve and heal properly.
Over in TikTok, there’s a drama involving property agents that’s caused by us. Here’s what happened:
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