Man fined for falsely obtaining fire safety labels for 50 doors installed in buildings

SINGAPORE: An employee of a door manufacturing firm falsely obtained 50 fire labels to certify doors made by another company as fire-proof.

The doors with invalid certificates, made by SIAC, were installed in newly constructed buildings before the offences came to light.

Peh Eng Thong, 51, was fined S$20,000 on Monday (Apr 18) for forgery. He was an assistant general manager for KLW Joinery at the time of the offences.

He pleaded guilty to one count of forging documents to obtain the fire safety labels from appointed certification body Setsco Services.

The court heard that Setsco, appointed by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), handles companies' applications for doors to be certified as fire-proof.

The companies have to provide evidence that their doors come from a supplier with a certificate of compliance administered by Setsco.

A certificate of compliance cannot be transferred between door suppliers, and must be renewed on an annual basis.

If a company's application is successful, Setsco will issue fire labels to be pasted on its doors as proof of their fire-proof integrity.

Around December 2018, door manufacturer and supplier SIAC received 50 orders from various projects to have fire-proof doors installed in newly constructed buildings.

SIAC had applied for a certificate of compliance from Setsco at the time, but it was not yet approved.

Peh's employer KLW Joinery had a valid and active certificate of compliance. A company applying for fire labels with evidence that its doors were procured from KLW Joinery was therefore likely to have its application accepted, stated court documents.

As SIAC was unable to apply for fire labels for its own doors, the company's director Mike Chin Chee Huen asked Peh to "lend" him 50 fire labels, the court heard.

"The accused knew that SIAC was a major client and was keen to maintain KLW Joinery's business relationship with SIAC. He thus agreed to provide Mike with the fire labels," said the prosecution.

On Dec 6, 2018, Peh made a forged requisition form claiming that SAIC had supplied 50 fire-rated doors purchased from KLW Joinery, when this was not the case.

He then gave the form to a consultant, asking him to prepare a purchase order by SIAC from KLW Joinery and to apply for the fire labels using these documents.

Setsco subsequently approved the application and delivered 50 fire labels to SIAC to be pasted on the doors.

After Peh's forgery was discovered, SCDF and Setsco traced the 50 doors that were invalidly certified as fire-proof, and directed SIAC to replace them.

Those found guilty of forgery can be jailed up to four years, fined or both.