Many constraints in changing rules of worker transportation: Amy Khor
Changing the rules for how companies transport their workers now will cause acute pain to the construction industry and lead to delayed projects and the loss of jobs, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Amy Khor yesterday.
Many proposals, such as installing seat belts on lorries and using vans, have already been studied by a work group more than a decade ago and continue to have operational constraints, she added.
Dr Khor, responding to questions in Parliament from MPs following three recent accidents that injured and killed workers, said the Government will continue working with the union and firms to refine laws, without committing to specific changes to regulations in the interim.
She raised cost and practical constraints that have stymied more radical changes in worker transport in the past 10 years.
"Let me reiterate again that passenger safety is very important. We agree with that. Every fatality and every injury is one too many and we do want to... enhance and preserve the safety of our workers. But this is a multi-faceted issue with many ramifications," she said.
"Even as we consider all these issues, we need... to find a balanced and calibrated approach in order to preserve the safety of workers as well as their livelihoods."
She said that for instance, using vans with smaller capacities instead of lorries could create driver fatigue as more trips would be required to move workers from one site to another.
SEAT BELTS
Retrofitting seat belts on lorries will also not work because it is not suited to the design of lorries, and the rear deck floorboards might not be strong enough to keep seat belts anchored in the event of a crash.
National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general Melvin Yong said in a blog post on Sunday that the union will push for different transport arrangements for workers, particularly on buses that are equipped with seat belts.
He also made four suggestions that he called "interim safety measures":
- To have a dedicated, licensed driver to ferry migrant workers to various work sites;
- To outlaw transporting goods and passengers together in the same space on vehicles;
- To clamp down on speeding;
- And seat belts on lorries and a review of the speed limit.
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