Humans Aren't Cargo

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 27 July 2010. Ferrying workers: Do the right thing now By Jessica Cheam Straits Times, Jul 27, 2010 Big companies should show the way by not using open-top lorries ST cartoon SINGAPORE'S builders have had to overcome many challenges in recent years - from the sand crisis of 2007, to the manpower and materials crunch of 2008, and the property slump last year. But the most recent challenge they face could be the trickiest, for it has both moral and business implications: Employers are now being pressured to stop ferrying workers on the back of lorries. Debate on the issue was reignited by an accident last month where an open-top lorry transporting workers overturned on the Pan-Island Expressway, killing three workers and injuring 14. It was the worst accident since May last year, when four workers died after their vehicle slammed into a stationary trailer in Tuas. Several MPs spoke up on the issue in Parliament last week, ...

The following letter was published in the Straits Times forum on 26 July 2010. Cap lorry speed limit Straits Times, Jul 26, 2010 I READ with interest Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim's letter last Wednesday ("Speeding deaths: Consider capital punishment"). We read and listen to news of cars colliding, motorcycles careening off the road, and foreign workers being injured in lorry crashes. The bottom line is: speeding kills. Advertisements and campaigns have been launched to ingrain this into our minds but sadly, accidents still happen and innocent lives are lost. Singapore has in place speed traps and police lookouts to nab errant drivers. However, more needs to be done. The most pressing issue is that of lorries transporting foreign workers being driven recklessly at high speeds. What good would canopies and proper seating do for the passengers' safety? We should nip the problem in the bud by altering the maximum speed at which these vehicles can travel. If all lorries travel at a m...

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 21 July 2010. Tighter deadline for safer lorries taken in stride By Maria Almenoar Straits Times, Jul 21, 2010 Most firms have started retrofitting lorries to better protect workers MOST companies have already begun retrofitting their fleets of lorries or replacing their old vehicles so that they will comfortably meet the deadline for tightened safety requirements. Companies which have been using lorries to transport their foreign workers between worksites and their dormitories have, in the past year or so, been fitting their vehicles with higher side rails and canopies. They had been told last August that they had until September 2012 to install these fittings to prevent their workers from falling off the vehicles and protect them from inclement weather. But in the light of a continued run of accidents in the last two months in which workers were thrown off lorries, the Government has brought forward the deadline. Light lorri...

The following letter was published in the Straits Times on 20 July 2010. Ferrying workers: Cost should not be a factor Jul 20, 2010 I FULLY support Mr Robert J. Cochrane's suggestion last Friday ("Ferrying workers: Smokescreen regulations won't work") to provide a safer mode of transportation for foreign workers, such as buses. Under no circumstances should we allow cost considerations to outweigh the value of human lives. Each foreign worker is someone's father, husband, brother or son, and his life is as precious as ours. The higher cost of transportation should be factored into total business costs, and we should try to find a workable solution without compromising safety. It is an issue that involves the unions, the employers and the Government. Perhaps they can work together to resolve the issue once and for all. Tan Thiam Soon

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 20 July 2010. Tighter driving rules for foreign workers By Kor Kian Beng Straits Times, Jul 20, 2010 Lorry safety measures also brought forward Reproduced photo caption: Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced in Parliament yesterday that the deadline for lorries used to transport foreign workers to be retrofitted with canopies and higher side railings has been brought forward from September 2012 to Feb 1 next year for light lorries, and Aug 1 next year for heavy lorries. He also announced that a new licensing scheme with more stringent conditions for foreign worker drivers was in the works. -- ST PHOTO: MALCOLM KOH THE Government will be more stringent in issuing driving licences to foreign workers. It will also step up enforcement against foreign worker drivers who flout safety rules by speeding or driving recklessly, and may also take legal action against them and their employers. The Transport Ministry has also brought fo...

The following article was published in TODAY on 20 July 2010. Safety measures to kick in earlier TODAY, Jul 20, 2010 SINGAPORE - New safety measures for lorries carrying workers - instead of being implemented in 2012 - will be introduced in February, following the recent deaths of three workers. Transport Minister Raymond Lim told Parliament yesterday that light lorries have to be fitted with canopies and higher side railings by Feb 1 next year, while heavy lorries have until Aug 1 next year to comply. He said 75 per cent of such fatal accidents involve light lorries. When compared to heavier lorries, workers on light ones are more likely to be hurt so the Ministry of Transport (MOT) decided that such lorries need to be retrofitted first, said Mr Lim. In addition, both light and heavy lorries have to double minimum deck space requirement per seated worker from 4 to 8 square feet by August next year. On June 22, three Chinese nationals died when the lorry they were travelling in skidded...

The following letter was published in the Straits Times forum on 16 July 2010. Ferrying workers: Smokescreen regulations won't work Jul 16, 2010 I WAS an audit director for the Transport Accidents Commission of the state of Victoria in Australia, and I have seen thousands of files on traffic and transport accidents. When I first took up my role in Singapore two years ago, I was shocked that workers were crammed into open-top vehicles designed solely for the transport of materials. This situation seems incongruous with Singapore's image as a safe place to work. Government plans ('Worker-transport safety rules may come sooner'; June 26) to alleviate risk will make no difference to worker death or injury in the case of a major accident. The Government did not mention any improvement in the securing of workers in the vehicles, or in overhead roll protection. Instead of designing smokescreen regulations, like the proposed rule to increase space per worker in the back of open...

The following letter was published in the Straits Times forum on 16 July 2010. Safety first for army trucks Jul 16, 2010 I REFER to Mr Tan Lek Lek's letter ("Banning lorries for transport is wrong"; July 2). I used to work in a transport unit in the army and there are many safety considerations when it comes to putting soldiers on the trucks and even smaller jeeps. For instance, all trucks are fitted with seat belts and proper secured benches. They are also covered with a steel superstructure and canvas, which protect passengers against the elements and also minimise the danger of passengers tumbling out in the event that the truck tips over. In the case of the jeeps, when there is no overhead cover, all passengers and the driver are required to wear helmets. Outside of training and regular operational purposes - for example, National Day Parade rehearsals - soldiers are usually ferried in commercial buses, while the trucks are used for transporting stores. I think if sim...

The following letter was published in the Straits Times on 8 July 2010. No exceptions when it comes to transport safety Jul 8, 2010 I REFER to Mr Tan Lek Lek's letter last Friday ("Banning lorries for transport is wrong"). Essentially, if we measure a policy only by economic impact, then it would make economic sense to use lorries for public transport as well. After all, lorries can take more passengers than school buses and taxis. The question is why safety overrides economic impact when we are talking about transporting office workers, children, executives and factory workers - while foreign labourers are exempt. The question of practicality is important, but what the Government can do is to look at subsidies and incentives for implementing safe transport. It is up to industries and the authorities to marshal the effort and resources to come up with a solution. If we are really that concerned with safety, it should be safety for everyone, not just those who can afford i...

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 7 July 2010. 368 lorry drivers booked By Maria Almenoar Straits Times, Jul 7, 2010 Reproduced photo caption: In addition to stepped-up enforcement efforts, LTA is considering doing more to improve the safety of lorries on our roads. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG A TWO-week enforcement exercise to catch errant lorries flouting safety rules involving workers netted 386 lorries, or 10 per cent of those checked. Traffic Police also caught 122 drivers for offences such as speeding, failing to wear seat belt and failing to keep left. The blitz was carried out jointly by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Traffic Police (TP) at Kaki Bukit, Pioneer Road, Tuas and Woodlands. Offences include carrying more passengers than they should, not filling up front passenger seats first and not displaying a maximum passenger capacity label among others. The safety of workers while being ferried on lorries has been in the spotlight again recently...

The following article was published in TODAY on 7 July 2010. Enforcement checks show 1 in 10 lorries flout rules by Dylan Loh TODAY Jul 07, 2010 Reproduced photo caption: An LTA enforcement officer issuing a summons to a lorry driver who displayed an incorrect Maximum Passenger Capacity label. KOH MUI FONG SINGAPORE - The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Traffic Police have stepped up enforcement checks on lorries in view of recent fatal accidents. In all, 368 lorries were found to have flouted safety rules over a two-week period. MediaCorp joined one such operation in the west of Singapore early yesterday morning. In the darkness before daybreak, enforcement officers guided lorries suspected of safety violations into a heavy vehicle park along Pioneer Road at the Tuas industrial area. Enforcement officers in white inspected the vehicles closely. A summon of fines was issued to every driver who was found flouting regulations. One lorry had a Maximum Passenger Capacity label of 27 di...

The following letter was published in the Straits Times forum on 6 July 2010. Ferrying workers by lorry: Cost not a reason Jul 6, 2010 IN HIS letter last Friday ('Banning lorries for transport is wrong'), Mr Tan Lek Lek implied that foreign workers should not be treated differently from national servicemen who are transported in lorries. He suggested that the lorries used to transport national servicemen were similar to the ones ferrying foreign workers to and from their workplaces. This is not true. National servicemen are transported in trucks with canopies as well as seatbelts. Foreign workers are transported in lorries without seat belts and often without canopies too. Despite the new policies from the Land Transport Authority, there is a lack of enforcement on the roads to deter errant drivers from using open-top trucks to ferry workers around. Second, Mr Tan suggests that high costs will not entice companies to hire buses. One strategy to consider is to collectively seek ...

The following letter was published in the Straits Times forum on 2 July 2010. Introduce speed limiters for goods vehicles Jul 2, 2010 I SHARE the sentiments of Mr Stewart Sanjay in his letter last Saturday ("Speeding by lorry drivers the deadliest danger"). Mr Sanjay was spot-on when he mentioned that speeding is the main cause of most accidents involving heavy vehicles. To be fair, however, only a handful of drivers are guilty of speeding. These days, foreign nationals, mainly from China and India, are employed by companies to transport goods and passengers. These drivers lack experience in handling heavy vehicles and worse, are unfamiliar with our roads. They speed and take evasive action by jamming on the brake suddenly, resulting in an increasing number of vehicles overturning. Perhaps the authorities should consider making it compulsory for goods vehicles and heavy vehicles to be fitted with speed limiters. Drivers should also attend defensive driving courses before bein...

The following letter was published in the Straits Times forum on 2 July 2010. Banning lorries for transport is wrong Jul 2, 2010 THE current obsession with banning lorries from transporting workers following a recent fatal accident is unreasonable. The issue of transporting workers in such vehicles should be considered in a balanced way, and we need to take into account the needs of all the concerned parties. For instance, if army personnel can be transported by lorries, why not workers? Many jumped to hasty conclusions following the fatal accident on June 22, in which three foreign workers died after the lorry they were in skidded and crashed off the Pan-Island Expressway. Many who are pressing for a ban on using such vehicles to transport workers do not understand the practicalities of operating a small business. The immediate consequence of restricting worker transport to buses or vans for small construction and service companies is a sharp spike in costs, as these firms are forced ...

This letter was published in The New Paper on 1 July 2010. Worker safety a top priority From reader Arthur Lim The New Paper, 1 July 2010 I refer to the recent lorry accidents involving foreign workers. Singapore prides herself on being No.1 in so many areas. Yet we allow human beings to be transported on the back of lorries. Madam Halimah Yacob, the chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, has stated that ideally, these workers should be ferried by buses. Even if that rule is not enforced, perhaps the Land Transport Authority and the Ministry of Manpower should explain why employers have been given such a long time to use lorries that comply with the new regulations. Does it take three years to modify the existing lorries to meet these safety requirements? Yes, this will add to costs for the employers, but they should factor that in when they submit tenders for projects. They should not put in a low bid then cut corners, compromising the safety of workers. A de...