SINGAPORE - A cleaning services company and a worksite manager were charged on July 16 over alleged safety lapses uncovered in a probe following the death of two workers at national water agency PUB Choa Chu Kang Waterworks in 2024.

Cleaning firm Stargroup Est was handed one charge under the Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations.

According to court documents, it had failed to implement “reasonably practicable measures” to minimise the risk to individuals at the workplace on or before May 23, 2024.

Lim Beng Hock, who was an authorised manager at the worksite in Nanyang Drive at the time of the offences, was handed 12 charges under the Workplace Safety and Health (Confined Spaces) Regulations.

The 49-year-old is said to have failed to exercise due diligence when performing his tasks in connection with the issuance of confined space entry permits.

Their cases will be mentioned again in court on Aug 13.

Stargroup was appointed to wash water treatment process tanks at the waterworks from December 2021 to November 2024.

At the time of the incident on May 23, 2024, the firm was tasked with conducting tank cleaning operations, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a statement.

Four workers from the company and a Stargroup subcontractor were involved in the cleaning works.

Previous reports on the incident said three of the workers collapsed after entering an enclosed passage beneath the tank, during the cleaning process.