They're Not Cargo
The following letter was published in TODAY on 21 August 2009.
THEY'RE NOT CARGO
Letter from Stephanie Chok
05:55 AM Aug 21, 2009
I REFER to "Greater safety in phases" (Aug 19).
It is important that worker safety is emphasised. However, the new measures do not recognise that humans are being transported on the cargo decks of lorries - spaces meant for cargo, not people.
Modifying spaces not meant for transporting humans is not innovation to be welcomed - it is an attempt to be "cost-effective".
Most of us travel to and from work by buses, taxis, MRT, private buses or cars. These are modes of transport designed for people. How then can we, with a clear conscience, designate hundreds of others to sit on cargo decks as if they were goods, often squashed between mounds of equipment?
Fitting in railings and canopies do not transform a goods vehicle into a passenger vehicle. People sitting on cargo decks could still sustain injuries if they are flung against one another or to the back of the lorry.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Teo Ser Luck has said in Parliament that safety is paramount. If safety is the chief concern, why is the option of carrying workers in passenger vehicles not considered?
A colleague from Germany commented that seeing workers being transported like cargo on goods vehicles is shocking and does not fit in with Singapore's international reputation.
High safety standards may cost more but it is the socially-responsible thing to do. In other developed countries, it would be unthinkable to see workers transported like this.
It is one thing for a person to choose to work in a dangerous job, quite another for them to be exposed to daily risks and physical discomforts, with no choice in the matter.
THEY'RE NOT CARGO
Letter from Stephanie Chok
05:55 AM Aug 21, 2009
I REFER to "Greater safety in phases" (Aug 19).
It is important that worker safety is emphasised. However, the new measures do not recognise that humans are being transported on the cargo decks of lorries - spaces meant for cargo, not people.
Modifying spaces not meant for transporting humans is not innovation to be welcomed - it is an attempt to be "cost-effective".
Most of us travel to and from work by buses, taxis, MRT, private buses or cars. These are modes of transport designed for people. How then can we, with a clear conscience, designate hundreds of others to sit on cargo decks as if they were goods, often squashed between mounds of equipment?
Fitting in railings and canopies do not transform a goods vehicle into a passenger vehicle. People sitting on cargo decks could still sustain injuries if they are flung against one another or to the back of the lorry.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Teo Ser Luck has said in Parliament that safety is paramount. If safety is the chief concern, why is the option of carrying workers in passenger vehicles not considered?
A colleague from Germany commented that seeing workers being transported like cargo on goods vehicles is shocking and does not fit in with Singapore's international reputation.
High safety standards may cost more but it is the socially-responsible thing to do. In other developed countries, it would be unthinkable to see workers transported like this.
It is one thing for a person to choose to work in a dangerous job, quite another for them to be exposed to daily risks and physical discomforts, with no choice in the matter.
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