Unequal burden of responsibility between senior management and the rank and file the cause?
Lianhe Zaobao published an editorial on Feb. 1 calling for corrective measures to restore the public’s confidence following several lapses by public service providers and government agencies.
In order for the public’s previously high confidence in these organisations to be restored, the editorial said that the deeper root causes of these lapses must be studied and reflected upon.
Laundry list
• Zaobao listed out several high profile lapses in recent memory:
• Ministry of Health’s (MOH) HIV Registry data being leaked affecting 16,600 individuals;
• The SingHealth hacking, the biggest ever hacking incident in Singapore’s history, that led to the theft of 1.5 million patient records;
• Five deaths in the last 18 months during Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) training;
• Tan Tock Seng Hospital personnel failing to properly sterilise dental equipment used on patients;
• A Hepatitis C outbreak in Singapore General Hospital due to gaps in infection prevention and control practices;
• The “deteriorating” quality of SingPost’s service, which includes the recent incident of a postman throwing away letters;
• Increasing frequencies of large scale power outages;“Improper” management of SMRT which led to several major breakdowns, death of maintenance crew, and flooding of a tunnel.
Culprits
Zaobao questioned where it all went wrong for each of the lapses.
For the SingHealth hack, it noted a key contributing factor was that the cybersecurity personnel involved in the case lacked knowledge, resources, and did not take appropriate actions in response to the hack.
Despite convening COIs, treating each training death with gravitas, and implementing new safety measures, Zaobao said that lapses still recurred in the SAF and questioned whether there was a deeper problem associated with attitude.
Zaobao said that despite SingPost’s explanation that its delivery problems were due to the year-end online shopping glut, the fact that postmen were throwing letters away suggests that there was obviously other problems.
Zaobao also said the same for power outages — that despite official explanation, there must be other reasons for lapses.
More at Zaobao: Recent major lapses involving public services may be result of a “muddling along” culture taking root
Lianhe Zaobao published an editorial on Feb. 1 calling for corrective measures to restore the public’s confidence following several lapses by public service providers and government agencies.
In order for the public’s previously high confidence in these organisations to be restored, the editorial said that the deeper root causes of these lapses must be studied and reflected upon.
Laundry list
• Zaobao listed out several high profile lapses in recent memory:
• Ministry of Health’s (MOH) HIV Registry data being leaked affecting 16,600 individuals;
• The SingHealth hacking, the biggest ever hacking incident in Singapore’s history, that led to the theft of 1.5 million patient records;
• Five deaths in the last 18 months during Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) training;
• Tan Tock Seng Hospital personnel failing to properly sterilise dental equipment used on patients;
• A Hepatitis C outbreak in Singapore General Hospital due to gaps in infection prevention and control practices;
• The “deteriorating” quality of SingPost’s service, which includes the recent incident of a postman throwing away letters;
• Increasing frequencies of large scale power outages;“Improper” management of SMRT which led to several major breakdowns, death of maintenance crew, and flooding of a tunnel.
Culprits
Zaobao questioned where it all went wrong for each of the lapses.
For the SingHealth hack, it noted a key contributing factor was that the cybersecurity personnel involved in the case lacked knowledge, resources, and did not take appropriate actions in response to the hack.
Despite convening COIs, treating each training death with gravitas, and implementing new safety measures, Zaobao said that lapses still recurred in the SAF and questioned whether there was a deeper problem associated with attitude.
Zaobao said that despite SingPost’s explanation that its delivery problems were due to the year-end online shopping glut, the fact that postmen were throwing letters away suggests that there was obviously other problems.
Zaobao also said the same for power outages — that despite official explanation, there must be other reasons for lapses.
More at Zaobao: Recent major lapses involving public services may be result of a “muddling along” culture taking root
