The following letter was published in the New Paper on 23 May 2009.
S'pore drivers can be selfish & reckless too
I WOULD like to comment on the statements by Mr Elangovan and Mr Rehmat Kiwon in the article 'It's the fault of foreign drivers' (The New Paper, 20 May).
I am from Scotland and I have been living here for the last two years. I think their comments against foreign drivers are rather offensive.
As foreigners here, we do know how to drive, and also follow the same rules while we are on the road.
From my experience, I think driving in Singapore is scary.
Some Singaporean drivers are selfish, they show no courtesy at all on the roads.
When I signal to the left or right to go to the next junction, they should let me go, but unfortunately they speed up and pass my car.
This could lead to an accident if I am not cautious while making the turn.
Courtesy does not cost anything, but unfortunately this is not the case.
My opinion about driving in Singapore is supported by comments from taxi drivers as I take taxis regularly.
Regarding the recent accident where four workers were killed - the companies which transported the foreign workers should be asked to pay a heavy fine.
I often see a lot of heavy equipment being carried at the back of the lorry, along with the workers.
If an accident occurs, the workers will be crushed to death instantly.
The authorities should ban this practice and improve ways to transport foreign workers to their workplace.
 They are hard-working people and deserve a proper mode of transport while they work in Singapore.
I am sure the company can afford a proper minibus with seat belts for them.
These amenities could save lives in the event of an accident.
But these companies find the cheapest way to transport them, as they do not want to spend the money on the workers.
I suggest that the Land Transport Authority take quick steps or decisions to avoid more unneccesary deaths.
This form of transport should have been banned a long time ago, and companies should be encouraged to use the proper form of transport.
FROM READER HERLIEN HUGHES
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Foreign workers lives at risk in Singapore
The following radio program was broadcast on ABC Radio Australia on 22 May 2009. To listen, click here.
Foreign workers lives at risk in Singapore
Updated May 22, 2009
Apart from doing the tough jobs that nobody wants, foreign workers in Singapore also face danger getting to and from work.
The transportation of foreign workers, mainly in the construction and manufacturing sectors, has long been a controversial area. This is because of safety issues, as they are ferried about on the trays of pick-up trucks.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Bharati Jagdish at Radio 938-LIVE in Singapore
Foreign workers lives at risk in Singapore
Updated May 22, 2009
Apart from doing the tough jobs that nobody wants, foreign workers in Singapore also face danger getting to and from work.
The transportation of foreign workers, mainly in the construction and manufacturing sectors, has long been a controversial area. This is because of safety issues, as they are ferried about on the trays of pick-up trucks.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Bharati Jagdish at Radio 938-LIVE in Singapore
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Ferrying Workers Safely
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 20 May 2009.
Ferrying workers safely
By Teh Joo Lin
20 May 2009
A good solution has to be found quickly so more lives are not lost
IT'S happened again.
On Monday, three foreign workers sitting in the back of a lorry died after it crashed into the back of a trailer. A fourth man in the front seat also died.
How many more must lose their lives before a solution to ferrying workers is found?
It took less than six months for the public outcry over the death of an eight-year-old boy last April to lead to action: minibuses must have seat belts installed. Now, 6,400 small buses are being fitted with safety harnesses. It was Singapore-style efficiency at work.
But the authorities seem to be in a bind on the issue of ferrying workers - usually foreigners - in the backs of lorries. There are many more of these workers than students and any solution will have to satisfy more interest groups.
Last year, an average of four workers a week never reached their destinations in one piece. Casualties have mounted but thankfully, fatalities have not been high: five in 2006 and two each in the next two years.
The issue of where and how foreign workers should be housed has been a subject of intense discussion every now and then, with plenty of ideas thrown up. But the question of how they should be ferried has received less attention. That is, until the next accident occurs.
A workgroup co-chaired by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Manpower Ministry (MOM) has been labouring since its setting-up was announced last March to come up with solutions to this problem.
While a report is expected to be completed by the year's end, no finding has been made public so far. That is perhaps an indication of the complexity of the problem, and the difficulty of having to satisfy the interests of several stakeholders.
In the minibus issue, the biggest concern was how much operators would have to pay to equip their vehicles with seat belts. This was resolved when the Government contributed $35 million for a five-year plan. Six-month window periods were scheduled so as to accommodate the worries of operators that they would lose business while their buses were retro-fitted.
All this was done to satisfy one big, clear and important constituency: parents with school-going children.
The big stakeholder in the foreign worker transport issue, besides the workers themselves, is the employer. Small-time contractors and some big-name companies too are likely to complain about any solution that puts pressure on their bottom lines in these turbulent economic times.
Perhaps the most obvious solution is to ban riding in the back of lorries altogether - as Bahrain, which has about 500,000 foreign workers, did from May 1 this year.
The alternatives? Public transport for the workers is one option, with workers equipped with a prepaid fare card.
But this means adding to the commuter crush during rush hour. Some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers.
Having them ride in chartered buses, which some employers are already providing for their workers, is more feasible.
Mr Neo Tiam Beng, president of the Singapore School and Private Hire Bus Owners' Association, says that the operators who run some 4,000 private buses for hire here, have the capacity to provide transportation to foreign workers.
This option, however, comes at a price, with each one-way trip estimated at $40 to $50 for about 40 workers, or roughly $1 a head at current oil prices. That's still a lot considering that employers with trucks pay near zero for using them to transport both equipment and people. There is likely to be a cry for government subsidies, which can run into the millions.
Rules on ferrying workers on cargo decks might be tightened up, with harsher penalties imposed for contraventions.
The rules now include allocating each worker at least 0.372 sq m of sitting space - slightly bigger than a full page of this newspaper. Workers are also not allowed to sit more than 3.2m off the ground, among other things.
Introduced in 2003, these measures have probably saved lives, but the LTA still caught 352 lorries overladen with workers last year, up from 226 in 2007. The maximum court penalty for those who ferry more workers than allowed is a $1,000 fine or a three-month jail term.
So perhaps it comes back to installing seat belts, as the Singapore Armed Forces has done for its trucks. Except that army trucks are designed for passengers to sit in, while the private trucks we are talking about are built only to carry cargo.
There may be other solutions to this problem: no travelling on expressways, for example, or having as many workers as possible stay on or near worksites.
Or the LTA could tie requests to hire foreign workers to providing them with adequate transportation. In other words, if you need more than 20 workers, tell LTA how you are going to get to them to work and back.
All these suggested solutions have their costs and trade-offs - and Singapore isn't alone in grappling with the issue.
In the United States, 30 of the 50 states have some form of restriction on how people can be transported on the cargo beds of pickup trucks. Britain has gone further with a blanket ban on passengers sitting on the decks of heavy goods vehicles.
Bahrain's move came despite claims from businesses that the cost of ferrying workers in buses could set the construction industry back by as much as $1 billion Bahraini dinars (S$3.9 billion).
At the end of the day, each country will have to weigh the life of a foreign worker against the economic and even political costs of not doing anything.
It's time we grappled with this problem - before the next accident occurs.
(c) 2009 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Ferrying workers safely
By Teh Joo Lin
20 May 2009
A good solution has to be found quickly so more lives are not lost
IT'S happened again.
On Monday, three foreign workers sitting in the back of a lorry died after it crashed into the back of a trailer. A fourth man in the front seat also died.
How many more must lose their lives before a solution to ferrying workers is found?
It took less than six months for the public outcry over the death of an eight-year-old boy last April to lead to action: minibuses must have seat belts installed. Now, 6,400 small buses are being fitted with safety harnesses. It was Singapore-style efficiency at work.
But the authorities seem to be in a bind on the issue of ferrying workers - usually foreigners - in the backs of lorries. There are many more of these workers than students and any solution will have to satisfy more interest groups.
Last year, an average of four workers a week never reached their destinations in one piece. Casualties have mounted but thankfully, fatalities have not been high: five in 2006 and two each in the next two years.
The issue of where and how foreign workers should be housed has been a subject of intense discussion every now and then, with plenty of ideas thrown up. But the question of how they should be ferried has received less attention. That is, until the next accident occurs.
A workgroup co-chaired by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Manpower Ministry (MOM) has been labouring since its setting-up was announced last March to come up with solutions to this problem.
While a report is expected to be completed by the year's end, no finding has been made public so far. That is perhaps an indication of the complexity of the problem, and the difficulty of having to satisfy the interests of several stakeholders.
In the minibus issue, the biggest concern was how much operators would have to pay to equip their vehicles with seat belts. This was resolved when the Government contributed $35 million for a five-year plan. Six-month window periods were scheduled so as to accommodate the worries of operators that they would lose business while their buses were retro-fitted.
All this was done to satisfy one big, clear and important constituency: parents with school-going children.
The big stakeholder in the foreign worker transport issue, besides the workers themselves, is the employer. Small-time contractors and some big-name companies too are likely to complain about any solution that puts pressure on their bottom lines in these turbulent economic times.
Perhaps the most obvious solution is to ban riding in the back of lorries altogether - as Bahrain, which has about 500,000 foreign workers, did from May 1 this year.
The alternatives? Public transport for the workers is one option, with workers equipped with a prepaid fare card.
But this means adding to the commuter crush during rush hour. Some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers.
Having them ride in chartered buses, which some employers are already providing for their workers, is more feasible.
Mr Neo Tiam Beng, president of the Singapore School and Private Hire Bus Owners' Association, says that the operators who run some 4,000 private buses for hire here, have the capacity to provide transportation to foreign workers.
This option, however, comes at a price, with each one-way trip estimated at $40 to $50 for about 40 workers, or roughly $1 a head at current oil prices. That's still a lot considering that employers with trucks pay near zero for using them to transport both equipment and people. There is likely to be a cry for government subsidies, which can run into the millions.
Rules on ferrying workers on cargo decks might be tightened up, with harsher penalties imposed for contraventions.
The rules now include allocating each worker at least 0.372 sq m of sitting space - slightly bigger than a full page of this newspaper. Workers are also not allowed to sit more than 3.2m off the ground, among other things.
Introduced in 2003, these measures have probably saved lives, but the LTA still caught 352 lorries overladen with workers last year, up from 226 in 2007. The maximum court penalty for those who ferry more workers than allowed is a $1,000 fine or a three-month jail term.
So perhaps it comes back to installing seat belts, as the Singapore Armed Forces has done for its trucks. Except that army trucks are designed for passengers to sit in, while the private trucks we are talking about are built only to carry cargo.
There may be other solutions to this problem: no travelling on expressways, for example, or having as many workers as possible stay on or near worksites.
Or the LTA could tie requests to hire foreign workers to providing them with adequate transportation. In other words, if you need more than 20 workers, tell LTA how you are going to get to them to work and back.
All these suggested solutions have their costs and trade-offs - and Singapore isn't alone in grappling with the issue.
In the United States, 30 of the 50 states have some form of restriction on how people can be transported on the cargo beds of pickup trucks. Britain has gone further with a blanket ban on passengers sitting on the decks of heavy goods vehicles.
Bahrain's move came despite claims from businesses that the cost of ferrying workers in buses could set the construction industry back by as much as $1 billion Bahraini dinars (S$3.9 billion).
At the end of the day, each country will have to weigh the life of a foreign worker against the economic and even political costs of not doing anything.
It's time we grappled with this problem - before the next accident occurs.
(c) 2009 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Readers Blame Foreign Drivers
The following article was published in The New Paper on 21 May 2009.
It's the fault of foreign drivers
By Amanda Yong
21 May 2009
The New Paper
Our readers claim these drivers are reckless and cause many accidents
BLAME it on the drivers.
They weave in and out of lanes, ignore traffic rules and have no regard for road safety.
Or so claim an overwhelming majority of readers who called or wrote in reacting to yesterday's report on an accident that killed four foreign workers on Gul Road early Monday morning.
The readers' bone of contention: Foreign drivers - and whether more needs to be done to ensure that they are qualified to drive on Singapore roads.
In the accident, a lorry driven by a foreign worker rammed into a parked trailer. Three of the four who died, along with five others who were injured, were riding in the back of the lorry. The workers - including the driver - were from India and Bangladesh.
The problem lies with foreign drivers at the wheel of lorries transporting their fellow foreign workers, said 23 of 27 readers who e-mailed or called The New Paper yesterday.
Reader Elangovan, 44, a lorry driver for 15 years, disclosed a little-known fact: That all it takes for a foreign worker to qualify to drive in Singapore is to pass the basic theory test. He found out from mixing with foreign drivers at work that many obtain their driving licences in their home countries.
'They don't need to sit for the practical driving test here. So at the end of the day, we don't know whether they actually know how to drive,' he said.
He felt that many drivers from foreign countries are inexperienced. 'When they drive back home, they're reckless. There are no signboards, no regulations, so when they come here they get confused.'
Confirmation with traffic police
A check with the traffic police website confirmed what Mr Elangovan said, at least for drivers of Class 3 and 3A vehicles. This comprises cars with an unladen weight of up to 3,000kg, and motor tractors and other motor vehicles with an unladen weight of up to 2,500kg.
The lorry involved in Monday's accident would fall under this classification.
But a foreigner holding a foreign licence of Class 4 and above is subject to more stringent requirements - he will have to 'go through training and a prescribed practical test... No direct conversion is granted for these heavy vehicle licences', according to the traffic police website.
Another Singaporean lorry driver, Mr S Sundarajan Rajan, called for stronger action against errant drivers.
He said in an e-mail: 'I think it's not really the mode of transport that is the issue, it's the drivers. Either the traffic police have to scrutinise these people before issuing them the licence or not issue them one at all.'
Mr Rehmat Kiwon, 54, a lorry driver with 35 years of experience and who works in the Jurong area, said: 'These drivers are reckless. They never give way and look like they are racing each other. I don't know what they're chasing.'
One reader recalled a close shave a month ago when his car escaped with a bent side mirror after a lorry driven by a foreign worker brushed against his car.
Mr Chia K S, 58, a chauffeur, said: 'The lorry overtook my car without signalling. Luckily I braked in time.'
There were foreign workers at the back of the lorry at the time. Mr Chia said he knew the driver was a foreigner because he took down the man's particulars for claims on his motor insurance.
A dormitory supervisor who gave his name as Mr Ramasamy, 59, is concerned about the lorries ferrying foreign workers, even in the wee hours of the morning, at Tuas where he works.
He said: 'I usually start work at 3am, but I am scared to drive there (to his Tuas workplace) because they (the lorry drivers) always speed. (The authorities) shouldn't give licences to these foreigners.'
Teacher Nur Mawarni, 24, said: 'There needs to be stricter imposition and reinforcement of traffic rules. Maybe more traffic police officers should be deployed to ensure that drivers ferrying workers do not exceed the 60kmh speed limit.
'In the meantime, we need to begin work to better protect these workers rather than wait for more to lose their lives.'
Others said the companies should also be held responsible.
Technician V Ramasamy wrote in an e-mail: '(the company) should... ensure safe transportation for the workers by providing 'safe' drivers.'
But another reader, who only gave his name as bobhairi, said he believed that regardless of road safety rules, 'if the drivers (have) bad attitude on the road, no matter (whether) you take a car, bus or any other (type of transport), accidents will happen.'
He added: 'The Government can make (a) thousand regulations, (but) I believe accidents will happen. It all depends on the drivers...'
Mr Elangovan agreed. 'When I carry 25 people with me, I always tell myself that these people are my responsibility. At the end of the day, even if you don't die, somebody else dies.'
Additional reporting by Pearly Tan, newsroom intern
Copyright 2009, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
It's the fault of foreign drivers
By Amanda Yong
21 May 2009
The New Paper
Our readers claim these drivers are reckless and cause many accidents
BLAME it on the drivers.
They weave in and out of lanes, ignore traffic rules and have no regard for road safety.
Or so claim an overwhelming majority of readers who called or wrote in reacting to yesterday's report on an accident that killed four foreign workers on Gul Road early Monday morning.
The readers' bone of contention: Foreign drivers - and whether more needs to be done to ensure that they are qualified to drive on Singapore roads.
In the accident, a lorry driven by a foreign worker rammed into a parked trailer. Three of the four who died, along with five others who were injured, were riding in the back of the lorry. The workers - including the driver - were from India and Bangladesh.
The problem lies with foreign drivers at the wheel of lorries transporting their fellow foreign workers, said 23 of 27 readers who e-mailed or called The New Paper yesterday.
Reader Elangovan, 44, a lorry driver for 15 years, disclosed a little-known fact: That all it takes for a foreign worker to qualify to drive in Singapore is to pass the basic theory test. He found out from mixing with foreign drivers at work that many obtain their driving licences in their home countries.
'They don't need to sit for the practical driving test here. So at the end of the day, we don't know whether they actually know how to drive,' he said.
He felt that many drivers from foreign countries are inexperienced. 'When they drive back home, they're reckless. There are no signboards, no regulations, so when they come here they get confused.'
Confirmation with traffic police
A check with the traffic police website confirmed what Mr Elangovan said, at least for drivers of Class 3 and 3A vehicles. This comprises cars with an unladen weight of up to 3,000kg, and motor tractors and other motor vehicles with an unladen weight of up to 2,500kg.
The lorry involved in Monday's accident would fall under this classification.
But a foreigner holding a foreign licence of Class 4 and above is subject to more stringent requirements - he will have to 'go through training and a prescribed practical test... No direct conversion is granted for these heavy vehicle licences', according to the traffic police website.
Another Singaporean lorry driver, Mr S Sundarajan Rajan, called for stronger action against errant drivers.
He said in an e-mail: 'I think it's not really the mode of transport that is the issue, it's the drivers. Either the traffic police have to scrutinise these people before issuing them the licence or not issue them one at all.'
Mr Rehmat Kiwon, 54, a lorry driver with 35 years of experience and who works in the Jurong area, said: 'These drivers are reckless. They never give way and look like they are racing each other. I don't know what they're chasing.'
One reader recalled a close shave a month ago when his car escaped with a bent side mirror after a lorry driven by a foreign worker brushed against his car.
Mr Chia K S, 58, a chauffeur, said: 'The lorry overtook my car without signalling. Luckily I braked in time.'
There were foreign workers at the back of the lorry at the time. Mr Chia said he knew the driver was a foreigner because he took down the man's particulars for claims on his motor insurance.
A dormitory supervisor who gave his name as Mr Ramasamy, 59, is concerned about the lorries ferrying foreign workers, even in the wee hours of the morning, at Tuas where he works.
He said: 'I usually start work at 3am, but I am scared to drive there (to his Tuas workplace) because they (the lorry drivers) always speed. (The authorities) shouldn't give licences to these foreigners.'
Teacher Nur Mawarni, 24, said: 'There needs to be stricter imposition and reinforcement of traffic rules. Maybe more traffic police officers should be deployed to ensure that drivers ferrying workers do not exceed the 60kmh speed limit.
'In the meantime, we need to begin work to better protect these workers rather than wait for more to lose their lives.'
Others said the companies should also be held responsible.
Technician V Ramasamy wrote in an e-mail: '(the company) should... ensure safe transportation for the workers by providing 'safe' drivers.'
But another reader, who only gave his name as bobhairi, said he believed that regardless of road safety rules, 'if the drivers (have) bad attitude on the road, no matter (whether) you take a car, bus or any other (type of transport), accidents will happen.'
He added: 'The Government can make (a) thousand regulations, (but) I believe accidents will happen. It all depends on the drivers...'
Mr Elangovan agreed. 'When I carry 25 people with me, I always tell myself that these people are my responsibility. At the end of the day, even if you don't die, somebody else dies.'
Additional reporting by Pearly Tan, newsroom intern
Copyright 2009, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Four Workers Killed as Lorry Crashes into Trailer
The following article was published in the New Paper on 20 May 2009.
MORE DEATHS TO COME AT BACK OF OTHER LORRIES?
Four killed at Tuas as lorry carrying foreign workers crashes into trailer
May 20, 2009
The Electric New Paper
Reproduced photo caption: HORRIFIC: A worker sitting at the back of the lorry was said to have hit against the roof and his blood dripped onto the road. PICTURES: LIANHE WANBAO, SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Reproduced photo caption: DANGEROUS: Three of the dead workers were at the back of the lorry, stained with blood.
Reproduced photo caption: Grief-stricken foreign workers waiting for news at the hospital.
IN THE worst accident this year, four foreign workers were killed after the lorry they were in crashed into the back of a stationary trailer in Tuas early yesterday.
It was not the first time that lives had been lost in accidents involving lorries carrying foreign workers in the cargo decks.
And yesterday's accident prompted MP Halimah Yacob to call it a tragedy waiting to happen.
Asked to comment by The New Paper, she said there was a need for proper criteria on how foreign workers are transported.
'Four more lives were taken this time.
'How many lives must be lost before we do something to protect these people who come help us and our economy?' she said.
Tragedy
Madam Halimah, who is chairman of the Manpower government parliamentary committee (GPC) and NTUC deputy secretary-general, added: 'The issue of workers' safety has been an age-old debate.
'This is truly a tragedy and we should not delay in taking action anymore.
'This was a tragedy waiting to happen and we need to take this as a turning point to put in place proper criteria about how foreign workers are transported.'
Madam Halimah had said last year that it seemed that workers lives were 'worth less than equipment' after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) refused to ban the transport of foreign workers in lorries.
She added that stringent workplace safety regulations should apply to the transportation of workers as well.
'It doesn't make sense for us to have stringent regulations to protect workers at the workplace, but have no rules to protect their lives when fetching them to and fro,' she said.
One of the four fatalities in yesterday's accident was sitting in the front passenger seat while the other three were with five other workers at the back of the lorry.
Three died on the spot while a fourth man died in hospital.
The driver, Mr Ramaiah Raja, 31, is warded at the National University Hospital with abrasions on his face and arms. Five other survivors were also taken to the hospital.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said the SCDF was alerted to the accident at Gul Road at 4.05am.
When SCDF personnel arrived with two fire engines, two support vehicles and three ambulances, they found that the front passenger side of the lorry was crushed badly.
They used a hydraulic spreader and cutter and two winches to free the front passenger, who was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Mr Baskar, operations manager of the victims' employer, Hi-tech NDT Inspection Services, said they were marine workers who were travelling from their quarters in Toh Guan Road East to Keppel Shipyard.
'All the workers have been working here for between two and three years. The company will be informing their relatives once we sort out what to do,' he said.
He said three of the dead were from Bangladesh and the other was from India.
Of the workers taken to hospital, two had suffered 'leg strain' and had been discharged, he said. Four men are still in hospital in a stable condition.
Groups of foreign workers milled around at the hospital hoping to see their injured friends. A few shed tears.
One burst into loud wails when approached by reporters. He later composed himself, but kept his head bowed in grief.
Last evening, Mr Baskar said he was relieved when doctors told him that the warded workers could be discharged in a few days.
Exposed & at risk
The issue of safety when transporting workers in open-top lorries has long been debated, with some calling for it to be banned.
A work group, co-chaired by the LTA and Ministry of Manpower, was formed early last year to review this issue.
The president of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), Mr John Gee, 55, said it had written to the LTA to recommend that foreign workers be transported in enclosed vehicles with seatbelts.
He said: 'Migrant workers should definitely be moved around in buses with safety belts.
'It's bad enough that they're exposed to the weather. In a crash, their likelihood of escaping unscathed is drastically reduced.'
He said the LTA responded by introducing measures to reduce the risk of workers being hurt while transported in lorries - such as handle bars, speed and other structural limits, but stopped short of a ban.
According to LTA rules, vehicles carrying workers cannot travel faster than 60kmh.
A label must also be displayed on the vehicle to indicate the maximum number of workers who can be transported, based on a minimum space requirement per person.
Passengers must also sit in a manner that does not allow them to fall off vehicles easily and not above 3.2m off the ground.
There have been suggestions that seatbelts should be installed in lorries, like schoolbuses now, after an 8-year-old child was flung out of a minibus in an accident last year.
But experts such as Dr Chin Hoong Chor, who specialises in transportation at the National University of Singapore, said doing so might give people 'the wrong impression that a lorry is meant for carrying passengers'.
Madam Halimah acknowledged that using minibuses to transport foreign workers would be more expensive for companies, but she felt the cost would be worth it.
She said: 'Companies will have to pay, but what...can compensate for a life lost?'
Mr Gee said: 'It is sad when we see such an accident takes place. If this goes on, you can be sure that a more serious one is waiting to happen.'
Pearly Tan, newsroom intern. Additional reporting by Amanda Yong.
MORE DEATHS TO COME AT BACK OF OTHER LORRIES?
Four killed at Tuas as lorry carrying foreign workers crashes into trailer
May 20, 2009
The Electric New Paper
Reproduced photo caption: HORRIFIC: A worker sitting at the back of the lorry was said to have hit against the roof and his blood dripped onto the road. PICTURES: LIANHE WANBAO, SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Reproduced photo caption: DANGEROUS: Three of the dead workers were at the back of the lorry, stained with blood.
Reproduced photo caption: Grief-stricken foreign workers waiting for news at the hospital.IN THE worst accident this year, four foreign workers were killed after the lorry they were in crashed into the back of a stationary trailer in Tuas early yesterday.
It was not the first time that lives had been lost in accidents involving lorries carrying foreign workers in the cargo decks.
And yesterday's accident prompted MP Halimah Yacob to call it a tragedy waiting to happen.
Asked to comment by The New Paper, she said there was a need for proper criteria on how foreign workers are transported.
'Four more lives were taken this time.
'How many lives must be lost before we do something to protect these people who come help us and our economy?' she said.
Tragedy
Madam Halimah, who is chairman of the Manpower government parliamentary committee (GPC) and NTUC deputy secretary-general, added: 'The issue of workers' safety has been an age-old debate.
'This is truly a tragedy and we should not delay in taking action anymore.
'This was a tragedy waiting to happen and we need to take this as a turning point to put in place proper criteria about how foreign workers are transported.'
Madam Halimah had said last year that it seemed that workers lives were 'worth less than equipment' after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) refused to ban the transport of foreign workers in lorries.
She added that stringent workplace safety regulations should apply to the transportation of workers as well.
'It doesn't make sense for us to have stringent regulations to protect workers at the workplace, but have no rules to protect their lives when fetching them to and fro,' she said.
One of the four fatalities in yesterday's accident was sitting in the front passenger seat while the other three were with five other workers at the back of the lorry.
Three died on the spot while a fourth man died in hospital.
The driver, Mr Ramaiah Raja, 31, is warded at the National University Hospital with abrasions on his face and arms. Five other survivors were also taken to the hospital.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said the SCDF was alerted to the accident at Gul Road at 4.05am.
When SCDF personnel arrived with two fire engines, two support vehicles and three ambulances, they found that the front passenger side of the lorry was crushed badly.
They used a hydraulic spreader and cutter and two winches to free the front passenger, who was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Mr Baskar, operations manager of the victims' employer, Hi-tech NDT Inspection Services, said they were marine workers who were travelling from their quarters in Toh Guan Road East to Keppel Shipyard.
'All the workers have been working here for between two and three years. The company will be informing their relatives once we sort out what to do,' he said.
He said three of the dead were from Bangladesh and the other was from India.
Of the workers taken to hospital, two had suffered 'leg strain' and had been discharged, he said. Four men are still in hospital in a stable condition.
Groups of foreign workers milled around at the hospital hoping to see their injured friends. A few shed tears.
One burst into loud wails when approached by reporters. He later composed himself, but kept his head bowed in grief.
Last evening, Mr Baskar said he was relieved when doctors told him that the warded workers could be discharged in a few days.
Exposed & at risk
The issue of safety when transporting workers in open-top lorries has long been debated, with some calling for it to be banned.
A work group, co-chaired by the LTA and Ministry of Manpower, was formed early last year to review this issue.
The president of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), Mr John Gee, 55, said it had written to the LTA to recommend that foreign workers be transported in enclosed vehicles with seatbelts.
He said: 'Migrant workers should definitely be moved around in buses with safety belts.
'It's bad enough that they're exposed to the weather. In a crash, their likelihood of escaping unscathed is drastically reduced.'
He said the LTA responded by introducing measures to reduce the risk of workers being hurt while transported in lorries - such as handle bars, speed and other structural limits, but stopped short of a ban.
According to LTA rules, vehicles carrying workers cannot travel faster than 60kmh.
A label must also be displayed on the vehicle to indicate the maximum number of workers who can be transported, based on a minimum space requirement per person.
Passengers must also sit in a manner that does not allow them to fall off vehicles easily and not above 3.2m off the ground.
There have been suggestions that seatbelts should be installed in lorries, like schoolbuses now, after an 8-year-old child was flung out of a minibus in an accident last year.
But experts such as Dr Chin Hoong Chor, who specialises in transportation at the National University of Singapore, said doing so might give people 'the wrong impression that a lorry is meant for carrying passengers'.
Madam Halimah acknowledged that using minibuses to transport foreign workers would be more expensive for companies, but she felt the cost would be worth it.
She said: 'Companies will have to pay, but what...can compensate for a life lost?'
Mr Gee said: 'It is sad when we see such an accident takes place. If this goes on, you can be sure that a more serious one is waiting to happen.'
Pearly Tan, newsroom intern. Additional reporting by Amanda Yong.
It's Time for Change
The following letter was published in TODAY on 20 May 2009.
WORKER TRANSPORT
It’s time for change
Letter from Isabel Vadivu Govind
I REFER to “Tragedy at Gul Road” (May 19) in which four foreign workers died.
Concerns about transporting workers in the backs of lorries have been raised. I understand that the Land Transport Authorities said in March last year that it was setting up a work group with the Ministry of Manpower to review this.
More than a year and about 200 injuries and six deaths later, things do not seem to have changed.
Cost, I believe, is the reason why we need a “work group” to discuss what is obvious should be done.
Yes, it will be more expensive to humanely transport workers. But this is part of our ethical responsibility as a receiving country of foreign labour.
The present practice of transporting such workers is unsafe, inhumane and does not treat people with respect or dignity.
It is disturbing that as a developed nation we allow this. Furthermore, doing so is a safety hazard for other road users.
I would like to urge a ban on the transporting of people in the backs of lorries.
All workers should be seated in buses when being transported.
And I urge the swift implementation of such a ban without the excuse that it would take a long time to make the change at a practical level.
We are efficient in many ways. I am certain we can be efficient in this matter if we recognise how important it is.
We do not need a work group.
We need action and we need it now, before more lives are lost.
Let the deaths of the four workers not be in vain.
It’s time for change
Letter from Isabel Vadivu Govind
I REFER to “Tragedy at Gul Road” (May 19) in which four foreign workers died.
Concerns about transporting workers in the backs of lorries have been raised. I understand that the Land Transport Authorities said in March last year that it was setting up a work group with the Ministry of Manpower to review this.
More than a year and about 200 injuries and six deaths later, things do not seem to have changed.
Cost, I believe, is the reason why we need a “work group” to discuss what is obvious should be done.
Yes, it will be more expensive to humanely transport workers. But this is part of our ethical responsibility as a receiving country of foreign labour.
The present practice of transporting such workers is unsafe, inhumane and does not treat people with respect or dignity.
It is disturbing that as a developed nation we allow this. Furthermore, doing so is a safety hazard for other road users.
I would like to urge a ban on the transporting of people in the backs of lorries.
All workers should be seated in buses when being transported.
And I urge the swift implementation of such a ban without the excuse that it would take a long time to make the change at a practical level.
We are efficient in many ways. I am certain we can be efficient in this matter if we recognise how important it is.
We do not need a work group.
We need action and we need it now, before more lives are lost.
Let the deaths of the four workers not be in vain.
The Unacceptable Cost of Cheap Labour
The following blog post was published by UK Telegraph reporter, Ben Bland, as part his Asia File series, on 20 May 2009. To access it, click here.
The Unacceptable Cost of Cheap Labour
By Ben Bland, The Asia File
First thing in the morning and late at night, Singapore's tree-lined highways are full of lorries and trucks carrying a vital cargo: the migrant workers from Bangladesh and India who are the backbone of the Lion City's economic miracle.
Crammed into the rear deck, the only protection they have from the scorching sun and the perpetual downpours is a bit of plastic sheeting. But the weather is the least of their worries.
Before sunrise on Monday morning, four workers from India and Bangladesh set off from their humble quarters for the shipyard where they were employed. But none of them arrived at work after the lorry they were travelling in hit the back of a larger truck parked by the roadside and they were killed in the collision.
One of the victims had been travelling in the front passenger seat but the other three had been sitting in the back of their vehicle. Six others were injured but survived.
The fatal accident has once more brought the shoddy treatment of migrant workers in Singapore to public attention.
While cattle are transported in comfortable air-conditioned surroundings, Singapore's construction and shipping workers are afforded no such luxury.
The authorities only stipulate that each worker has at least 0.372 square metres of floor space and that lorries do not carry more people than they are licensed to.
210 people were injured while traveling in the back of lorries in Singapore last year and two killed. 186 were hurt in 2007 and two killed.
So long as unscrupulous companies are allowed to carry people in worse conditions than animals, the deaths and injuries will continue.
The Gulf state of Bahrain, which does not exactly have a reputation as a haven of workers' rights, has introduced a ban on using trucks to transport labourers.
But Singapore seems to have no intention of altering the status quo, largely because of the purported costs to business in a state that is dependent on external trade and investment. (It's obviously cheaper to pay the odd hospital bill and coffin shipping costs than it is to hire a mini-bus.)
It's a pretty despicable situation that reflects a xenophobic attitude to foreign labour. People are happy to milk the economic benefits of cheaply imported workers but are not so willing to accord them rights and respect.
Nimby-ist Singaporeans complain whenever a foreign workers' hostel is built in their vicinity and, according to one earnest writer in the Straits Times today, if migrant labourers were to be given public transport passes instead of being thrown onto the back of trucks, "some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers".
The Unacceptable Cost of Cheap Labour
By Ben Bland, The Asia File
First thing in the morning and late at night, Singapore's tree-lined highways are full of lorries and trucks carrying a vital cargo: the migrant workers from Bangladesh and India who are the backbone of the Lion City's economic miracle.
Crammed into the rear deck, the only protection they have from the scorching sun and the perpetual downpours is a bit of plastic sheeting. But the weather is the least of their worries.
Before sunrise on Monday morning, four workers from India and Bangladesh set off from their humble quarters for the shipyard where they were employed. But none of them arrived at work after the lorry they were travelling in hit the back of a larger truck parked by the roadside and they were killed in the collision.
One of the victims had been travelling in the front passenger seat but the other three had been sitting in the back of their vehicle. Six others were injured but survived.
The fatal accident has once more brought the shoddy treatment of migrant workers in Singapore to public attention.
While cattle are transported in comfortable air-conditioned surroundings, Singapore's construction and shipping workers are afforded no such luxury.
The authorities only stipulate that each worker has at least 0.372 square metres of floor space and that lorries do not carry more people than they are licensed to.
210 people were injured while traveling in the back of lorries in Singapore last year and two killed. 186 were hurt in 2007 and two killed.
So long as unscrupulous companies are allowed to carry people in worse conditions than animals, the deaths and injuries will continue.
The Gulf state of Bahrain, which does not exactly have a reputation as a haven of workers' rights, has introduced a ban on using trucks to transport labourers.
But Singapore seems to have no intention of altering the status quo, largely because of the purported costs to business in a state that is dependent on external trade and investment. (It's obviously cheaper to pay the odd hospital bill and coffin shipping costs than it is to hire a mini-bus.)
It's a pretty despicable situation that reflects a xenophobic attitude to foreign labour. People are happy to milk the economic benefits of cheaply imported workers but are not so willing to accord them rights and respect.
Nimby-ist Singaporeans complain whenever a foreign workers' hostel is built in their vicinity and, according to one earnest writer in the Straits Times today, if migrant labourers were to be given public transport passes instead of being thrown onto the back of trucks, "some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers".
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