INJURIES RESULTING FROM MILITARY TRAINING

Mr Noris Ong Chin Guan asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence if he will give an update on the trend of fatal accidents and injuries resulting from military training or exercises from 1997 to 1999 and the adequacy of existing military training safety regulations.

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: The number of fatal accidents and injuries in the SAF has decreased steadily over the last 3 years. The number of fatal accidents had decreased significantly from 6 in 1997 to 1 in 1999, while the number of training injuries had dropped by 45% in the same period. This improvement is the result of sustained efforts by the SAF to improve safety, and has been achieved without lowering the tempo of training and training standards.

In 1997, the SAF conducted a major review of its military training safety system. Since then, it has put in place mechanisms to regularly review the training safety procedures. In addition, safety inspections in all training activities and safety education amongst officers and men are emphasised; schemes to encourage suggestions from units to improve the safety of military training and exercises have been introduced; and a high-level standing committee, chaired by the Chief of Defence Force, was set up to oversee the promotion of safety efforts in every aspect of SAF training and exercises.

SAF will continue to ensure that the military training and exercises are conducted safely.