SINGAPORE: All forms of strenuous activity have been temporarily cancelled as part of a safety timeout across the army that was implemented in the wake of Aloysius Pang’s death, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) said on Monday (Jan 28).

“All training ceases during the safety timeout,” MINDEF said in response to queries by Channel NewsAsia.



“A safety timeout, implemented, applies to all forms of strenuous physical activity, including the Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT), IPPT Preparatory Training (IPT) and Remedial Training (RT).”

It added that 5BX (five basic exercises), jogging, route marches and field training are also among the activities halted during the safety timeout.

Local actor Aloysius Pang died on Jan 24 after sustaining serious injuries during a SAF training exercise in New Zealand last week.



Following the incident, army commanders announced they were implementing a safety timeout as part of the lowering of training tempo as investigations are carried out.

According to the MINDEF, there is no stipulated length on how long the timeout will last.

“Each case is independent and implementation of safety timeout is dependent on the assessment of reviews of training and safety management plans,” MINDEF said.

The most recent safety timeout was implemented after the death of CFC Liu Kai. The safety timeout began on the day of CFC Liu's death on Nov 3 and ended on Nov 8.

Previous to that, a safety timeout was put in place after the death of CFC Dave Lee from Apr 30 until May 2.