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.
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