Humans Aren't Cargo

The following article was published in AsiaOne on 15 Feb 2011. 3 men rescued from lorry after accident SINGAPORE - An accident involving a lorry left three people trapped this morning. At 9am, SCDF received a call regarding a road traffic accident. The front cabin of a lorry had flipped and was impacted against a bus stop bollard along 216 Loyang Avenue. Three people - a male Chinese and two male Indians - were trapped in the front cabin. SCDF deployed a fire engine, a Red Rhino, two ambulances and two supporting vehicles to the scene. Rescuers used hydraulic cutters, spreaders and an extension ram to rescue the trapped men, who were then sent to Changi General Hospital. All three casualties were conscious while being conveyed to the hospital.

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 18 Jan 2011. Stricter safety rules for lorries from next month Higher fines, lower maximum passenger capacity among changes By Royston Sim & Melissa Kok Straits Times, Jan 18, 2011 LORRY drivers and company bosses who flout safety rules on transporting workers will face stiffer penalties. From Feb 1, fines will be increased from $200 to $500 for certain offences. They include carrying workers in the back while there are empty seats in the lorry cabin, and allowing workers to sit so that they are higher than 1.1m measured from the floor of the lorry. First-time offenders will get demerit points for most offences. Errant drivers who carry too many passengers or ferry them in a dangerous manner will also get demerit points. In July last year, the Government brought forward the deadline for enhanced safety standards from September next year to next month. The move followed two accidents in June which killed three workers and i...

The following letter was published by The Online Citizen on 15 December 2010. Mr K Shanmugam Minister for Home Affairs and Law New Phoenix Park 28 Irrawaddy Road Singapore 329560 Dear Mr Shanmugam, Permit Application Nos PP/20101125/003 and PP/20101128/001 Pursuant to Section 6 of the Public Order Act 2009 – An Appeal under Section 11 of the Public Order Act 2009 We write to express our regret that the above applications for permits to conduct a vehicle procession and to distribute flyers on Saturday 18th December have been rejected. These activities are to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the United Nations International Convention for the Protection of Migrant Workers and Members of their Families which falls on 18th December. Migrant workers who are transported in the open decks of lorries are vulnerable to traffic accidents which may lead to injury and even death. Such tragedies have been widely reported in the media and discussed in Parliament. To raise awareness of the danger...

The following article was published in TODAY on 15 Dec 2010. No go for International Migrants Day by Cheow Xin Yi TODAY, Dec 15, 2010 SINGAPORE - The police have rejected applications by civil society groups Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) and Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) to hold activities commemorating International Migrants Day on Saturday. The groups wanted to hold a vehicle procession to raise awareness of the dangers of migrant workers being transported on the back of lorries as well as to distribute flyers to raise awareness of the United Nations Convention for the protection of migrant workers, which the Singapore Government has not ratified. When contacted by MediaCorp, a police spokesperson said: "The permit applications were not approved due to law and order considerations. The police have advised the two NGOs to hold their activities within the confines of the Speakers' Corner instead." Home executive director Jolovan Wham feels ...

The following photograph and accompanying text was posted on STOMP on 22 August 2010. STOMPer dazzlaser was travelling along the ECP recently when he saw foreign workers being transported on a lorry, huddled under an umbrella that offered little protection from the thunderstorm. He thinks that the employer needs to show more welfare to them. The STOMPer wrote: "Last Fri, 20 Aug, I was driving on the ECP when there was a heavy downpour in the morning. "Saw these foreign workers carrying umbrellas travelling on a lorry. "The employer should be fined for mistreating his employees like animals. "This isn't the way to ferry workers in bad weather. "All of them must have been drenched. "Very ashamed to be a Singaporean."

The following AFP story was published in the Straits Times on 18 August 2010. Focus on worker safety Aug 18, 2010 SINGAPORE - ALAM Khali can still remember vividly how he feared for his safety whenever he squatted on the back of an open-topped lorry while being ferried to construction sites in Singapore. Squashed in with other foreign labourers, the 40-year-old Bangladeshi said he clung on to whatever part of the lorry he could get his hands on as the vehicle made its way around the wealthy city-state. 'Of course scared, but boss says take lorry, we take,' Mr Khali, who has been working in Singapore since 2003, shrugged in an interview at a hotel construction site while having a lunch of plain vegetables and white rice. Thanks to a new boss, Mr Khali now gets a stipend to travel by subway to work, but most of the estimated 245,000 foreign construction workers from poorer Asian countries are not so lucky. Transported around like cattle even under pouring rain, the workers are a ...

Posters designed by Isaac Tng (sixmoredays@gmail.com) The following statement was posted by TWC2, a local migrant worker welfare organization, on its website . Three Chinese workers died when a lorry in which they were being carried skidded and crashed onto its side on the morning of June 22nd. Some among the 14 survivors needed hospital treatment. The lorry crashed off the Pan-Island Expressway. TWC2 has argued strongly against transporting workers on the backs of lorries and trucks and in favour of transport in enclosed vehicles. Road safety measures are not only meant to prevent accidents, but to minimise the harm done when they do occur. If the 17 workers had been travelling in a coach or a minibus (preferably with seatbelts), would the outcome have been this serious? We think that is not likely. In an article on 'Safety on the Roads' that was published in the September-October 2007 issue of the TWC2 members' newsletter, our position was set out clearly: '(T)he prob...