A Safe Distancing Ambassador (SDA), who had his photos taken showing him without his mask on while he was in a shopping mall, has been fined S$300 by Enterprise Singapore.

The SDA was out conducting surveillance checks in White Sands shopping mall at that time when he had his photos taken during his break.

Four of his photos were subsequently posted on Facebook in the Complaint Singapore group on April 16 by one Daniel Wong a day after the incident happened.

The post was shared more than 800 times, with many commenters questioning why the SDA did not have his mask on.

Response

In response to queries by Mothership after conducting internal checks, Enterprise Singapore said the SDA had "gone to the restroom during his break and forgot to put on his mask after leaving the restroom".

But the SDA put his mask back on immediately after he was reminded by his colleague.

Enterprise Singapore added that it takes a serious view of the infringement and had issued a "stern warning as well as imposed a S$300 penalty" on the SDA.

You can read the Enterprise Singapore response in full:

The person in the photo who was seen without a mask, is a Safe Distancing Ambassador (SDA) who had been deployed on the ground by ESG to conduct surveillance checks at shopping malls. Based on our investigations, the SDA had gone to the restroom during his break and forgot to put on his mask after leaving the restroom. That was when the photo was taken. He put on his mask immediately after the other SDAs reminded him.

ESG takes a serious view of such infringements and has issued a stern warning as well as imposed a S$300 penalty on him. This is consistent with the penalty imposed on individuals who are found not wearing a mask in the public, as we expect our SDAs to uphold the same standards. The SDA has accepted the penalty and apologised for his mistake.

We have reminded all deployed SDAs on the strict requirement to wear masks at all times as long as they are out of the house.