Monday, November 19, 2012

Paying The Price For Safety

Quite a few years back, we were evaluating the Dalian shipyard in China for a VLCC newbuilding project when we ran into the representative from DNV (Det Norske Veritas), a leading international provider of services for managing safeguarding of life, property and the environment. How's the worker attitude towards safety, we asked him. The Norwegian rolled his eyes, and suggested we give them another five years to catch up. This was before the world heard of baby food adulterated with melamine. Safety is so intertwined with quality of life and environment issues that the discipline is now covered by HSEQA (Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Assurance).

You would roll your eyes too as the Assistant Political Writer of the Sunday Times shared similar disdain for safe practices. If you believe him, it's perfectly acceptable to ignore the seat belt at the back of the taxi, use the smartphone while driving, or dash across the road instead of walking the couple of metres to a pedestrian crossing. Just because it's done here.

The moral malaise, we read, is already endemic in the National Service training grounds: "the army seems to revolve around breaking the rules".  And he wasn't talking about the President's son evading dangerous field exercises by seeking refuge in a laboratory. Motorbike riders without licences, safe distances for firing blanks ignored, sleeping under army trucks. Because the first rule of this fight club is "Just don't get caught".  Remember the Motor Transport Officer who was run over by a Land Rover (July 2009) and the Lance Corporal rear ended by a truck (January 2011)? The former apparently told everybody to step up on the curb, but he remained in harm's way, foolishly thinking his rank would protect him from being converted into road kill.

This cannot be true. Just because 18 year olds are being trained to be "shoot, maim and injure" doesn't mean life should be cheap.  Perhaps the writer was straining at straws to allay the weight of responsibility from the people in charge of the killing fields fast associated with our military training venues. This type of palliative will not endure. Even if only 39.9 percent has a healthy respect for safety for preservation of self and our loved ones, we can look forward to a better society than the current status quo.

20 comments:

  1. The Pro Alien Party does not value the lives of Singaporeans, our happiness, or our poor and elderly.
    Is the Pro Alien Party, the Party of Traitors?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yawn.

      I know you hate the Gahmen. But can you at least learn to use better insults than a lame play on their abbreviated name and than spamming it in response to every comment?

      It's people like you who diminish the credibility of the 39.9%.

      Delete
  2. This callous attitude they emulate from CCP. Perhaps they intend to make Singapore part of China.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. U came fr China? U know CCP?

      Delete
  3. Finally they revealed that the compensation for our sons who die on national service is only 12 months of the last drawn gross salary or double if certain conditions are met. So for those young ones probably earning less than S$2k per month, it's probably less than S$24K to put the value to what a young Singaporean is worth, not even enough to secure half a COE these days.

    So as a comparison for every COE they gives out, they can easily afford to compensate for 2 or 3 who dies an unnecessary death yearly. Now I understand why one old auntie tells me in those days, she worries to death each time her sons is recalled for NS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What part of Pro Alien Party do we not understand?
      Now you see?
      How little does it pay to be a Singaporean in Singapore?
      How does it benefit us to support the Pro Alien Party?

      Delete
    2. It's pegged to the salary level of regulars.

      Delete
  4. "Just don't get caught" is a basic guiding law which can be applied to every aspect of life.

    While I agree with you that safety practices in the armed forces needs to be thoroughly post-mortemed, what is your beef with this otherwise excellent guiding principle?

    It encourages thought, planning, alertness and wiliness, all necessary to surviving...in anything. Especially in Singapore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steal ... just don't get caught.
      Lie ... just don't get caught
      Cheat ... just don't get caught

      Feel free to add to the list ....

      Delete
    2. Witness what happened to the ex-CIA director...

      Delete
    3. Agreed. It's not just the government or assistant political writers who may espouse the value of this time-honoured principle.

      Back in the day when I was a hair-shorn NSF, my platoon mates and I regularly practiced it too.

      It's easy to blame the government for the current lack of safety enforcement in the army (as the prolific alien-hating commentator here so clearly demonstrates), but if you looked beyond the politics, you'd realise that "getting away with it" is probably endemic to military personnel anywhere in the world. After all, a soldier, by definition, trains to do exactly that.

      Delete
  5. what do you think about the yahoo (sg) article by jim sleeper of yale university ?

    ReplyDelete
  6. The military spokesman is like the person on this tv who's being interviewed.
    Lying in the face, sorrowful speech and all, but continue with their arrogant acts. Until and unless you have a journalist who is on the side of "truth finding" and report as it should be, this country is going down further the Israel way, and our sons and the country are paying the price.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6fn5NZ6LBk&feature=player_embedded

    ReplyDelete
  7. Perhaps the government should take another look at NS. With a million strong now, we are definately able to take over Europe any time soon. But where is our enemy? Do we need such a strong army to defend our land which by the way if they did not know, already being "conquered" by FT. Why don't just enlist regulars. Pay them well and let them serve.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Pro Alien Party believes Singaporeans are the enemy.
      That is why they are trying to fix Singaporeans by importing FTs and making Singaporeans unemployed.

      Delete
    2. Only blur sotongs will continue to bite those dumb-me-down feel good movie directed by Jack Neo to sell the sacredness of their NS service..while their country has gone to the dogs and wolves. Stop drinking those fluoride water in your tap to polish up your pineal gland and wake up from your matrix dreams.

      Delete
  8. Singaporeans are paying the price for stupidity.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What is the meaning of NS nowadays when you have to safeguard the 40% foreign population who do not have any NS obligations at all. Why do our men have to scarifice time and handicap themselves in work and studies so that foreigners can enjoy their working life here. NS has lost its meaning long time ago. Wake up and please do not dumb yourself watching stupid Jerk Neo movies.

    ReplyDelete
  10. wow..love the translation tool..!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Magnificent web site. Plenty of useful info here.
    I am sending it to some friends ans additionally sharing in delicious.
    And naturally, thanks to your effort!
    http://duvardakiler.com/blogs/user/MelvinaZQP
    Look into my web site ... casanovas

    ReplyDelete