Foreign worker dies after fall from lorry

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 9 June 2002.

Foreign worker dies after fall from lorry.

By Chong Chee Kin.

9 June 2002

Straits Times

Indian national was on his way back to living quarters with seven others when he fell; he died later from head injuries

A CONSTRUCTION worker died after falling from the back of a lorry on Friday night.

The 26-year-old Indian national was with seven of his countrymen, who were being transported back to their living quarters, when the accident happened at the T-junction between Boon Lay Drive and Boon Lay Road at about 8.30 pm.

A police spokesman said the worker is believed to have fallen from the back of the lorry as it was travelling along Boon Lay Drive.

The man suffered serious head injuries and was taken to the National University Hospital, where he died about an hour later.

A check by The Sunday Times showed that at least 20 foreign workers have been either killed or injured in similar accidents over the past two years.

In November last year, seven workers were injured after they were flung out of a lorry which hit two buses.

Three months earlier, another seven constructionworkers were flung out of the back of a lorry in a similar accident at the junction between Serangoon Road and Desker Road.

One of them, Mr Palaniyandi Servai Chinnallannu, 35, died two hours after the accident. The others suffered injuries but survived.

The rash of accidents sparked a debate in The Straits Times' Forum pages last month.

Letter writers hit out at the way foreign workers were 'transported like animals' in the lorries.

Mr John Barker wrote that he was amazed that the law allowed workers to travel in the back of trucks without either seats or seat belts.

'This makes a mockery of the law which requires seat belts to be worn when in the rear seats of cars,' he wrote.

Mr Mohamed Yazid Sallim also wrote to say that the practice was a serious and dangerous traffic violation.

Often, he noted, the workers were not only crammed in the back of an open vehicle but were also seated next to heavy machinery and sharp tools.

'It is an accident waiting to happen,' he wrote.

However, the Singapore Contractors Association said that the lorry was the most efficient means of ferryingworkers to and from their workplaces.

Citing statistics from the Land Transport Authority, it said the fatality rate involving the transportation of workersin open lorries was significantly lower than the overall fatality rate for all vehicles.

Meanwhile, the police are appealing for eyewitnesses to the latest accident.

Those with information should call 1800-547-1818.

DANGERS IN THE REAR

August 2001: Seven construction workers in the back of a lorry are flung out after the lorry hits another vehicle. One of them dies two hours later, while the rest are injured.

November 2001: Another seven workers are injured, also after being flung out of the lorry they were in when the vehicle hits two buses. June 2002: Another construction worker dies after falling from the back of a lorry.

(c) 2002 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

Are lives of those in lorries worth less?

The following letter was published in the Straits Times on 30 May 2002.

Are lives of those in lorries worth less?

By ALISON COUSLAND.

30 May 2002

Straits Times

I READ Singapore Contractors Association executive director Simon Lee's letter, 'No compromise on workers' safety' (ST, May 25), and would like to ask how this sits with the recent enforcement of the seat-belt law.

On Sunday, I saw a family travelling in the back of an open lorry. Are their lives less important than those of families travelling in a car, where seat belts must be worn? Is there a different value put on the lives of the people travelling in private cars and people travelling in open trucks? This is certainly how it appears to me, in the light of the seat-belt law.

I wonder if the Land Transport Authority could clarify the legal position with regard to people in cars and people in open lorries.

(c) 2002 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

No compromise on workers' safety

The following letter was published in the Straits Times on 25 May 2002.

No compromise on workers' safety

25 May 2002

Straits Times

[by] SIMON LEE, Executive Director. Singapore Contractors Association Ltd

I REFER to the letters, 'Stop transporting workers like animals' by Mr John Barker (ST, May 16); 'Back of pick-up safer than back seat' by Mr Ooi Jian Yuan (ST, May 16) and 'Spare thought for foreign workers' by Mr Seah Yam Meng (ST, May 18).

In the three letters, references were made to transporting workers in pick-up trucks, transportingworkers like animals and feeling sorry for the way theseworkers are being treated.

The Singapore Contractors Association (Scal) reiterates that these workers have always been treated fairly. There is always a harmonious working environment, based on racial equality and meritocracy, within the construction industry.

On the subject of transportation, workers and employers accept the practicality of such mode of transport. To date, this is the most efficient means to ferry workers to and from their workplaces.

The workers' safety is never compromised to the extent of exposing them to greater danger than that faced by other road users.

The accident statistics of the Land Transport Authority show that the fatality rate involving the transporting ofworkers in open lorries is significantly lower than the overall fatality rate for all vehicles.

Further, we would like to add that Scal works closely with LTA on measures to regularly remind drivers/owners to comply with safety requirements, for example, the danger of overloading and speeding.

New measures were also introduced to enhance the safety of workers transported in lorries, like limiting the number of workers allowed to be transported in openlorries and installing speed-limiters on lorries.

(c) 2002 Singapore Press Holdings Limited