Regulations to Ensure Safety for Migrant Workers Ferried in Lorries

Ms Janet Ang asked the Minister for Transport (a) how many accidents involving migrant workers transported in open lorries have occurred in the past five years; (b) how many of such accidents have been fatal; (c) whether it is legal to carry passengers in vehicles not intended for ferrying people and, if so, who takes responsibility when accidents happen; and (d) whether regulations can be improved to protect the safety of migrant workers during their daily commutes.

Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Transport whether LTA will review the safety regulations to enhance the level of safety of migrant workers being ferried in mini-lorries or to require that they be transported via buses.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Transport whether there are any plans to review the carriage of workers at the back of lorries or goods vehicles and, if not, whether LTA intends to introduce any new safety measures to enhance the safety of workers being carried at the back of such vehicles.

Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether any study has been done to find out what are the estimated additional costs (as a percentage and in absolute quantum across the industry) as a result of regulations prohibiting the transport of workers in lorries and goods vehicles; (b) if yes, what are the findings of the study; and (c) what measures can be taken to assist with the increased costs associated with such a prohibition.

Last month, there were two unfortunate accidents involving lorries that were transporting workers. The first occurred when the lorry ferrying 17 workers collided into a stationary truck along the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) and resulted in two fatalities. The lorry driver has been arrested for careless driving causing death. The second incident involved a lorry ferrying nine workers but fortunately, there were no fatalities. Three days ago, there was an accident between a Police van and a lorry ferrying 11 workers. Seventeen people, including five Police officers, were conveyed to the hospital with minor injuries.

We are deeply saddened by the accidents and would like to offer our deepest condolences to the affected families. The accidents are currently being investigated by the Traffic Police (TP). The party or parties found responsible will be dealt with based on our laws.

Members have raised concerns on the use of lorries to ferry workers. Internationally, practices are varied. Countries such as Canada, Thailand and the United States of America allow for passengers to be ferried in the rear deck of goods vehicles travelling on roads, albeit with safety precautions and some restrictions.

From a road safety perspective, it will be ideal for lorries not to carry any passengers in their rear decks. But there are very significant practical and operational issues – on top of just cost considerations – which is probably why internationally, it is not an uncommon practice.

I want to assure Members that we take seriously the safety and well-being of all workers, including our foreign workers, without whose contributions, Singapore would not be what it is today.

As far back as 2008, a Workgroup co-chaired by MOM and LTA conducted a thorough review of the safety of workers being transported on lorries. The Workgroup included members from industry associations, the National Safety Council of Singapore, TP and other Government agencies. Over more than a year, the Workgroup studied the issue extensively and consulted widely, including industry groups, safety experts and transport operators. At that time, companies – especially small and medium enterprises in the construction industry – had strongly urged the Government to allow them to continue ferrying their workers in lorries. The industry associations also provided strong feedback that switching to dedicated bus transport would lead to significantly higher business costs. Other practical challenges were also highlighted. For instance, while lorries can have dual use for transporting workers and equipment, buses cannot and this will result in significant productivity loss. Other proposals such as using vans with smaller capacities or lowering the cap on deck capacity were also considered, but there were concerns about driver fatigue and therefore, safety, as more trips would have to be made to ferry workers from one site to another.

The Workgroup studied the various feedback carefully and laid out a set of recommendations to preserve workers' safety and livelihoods. As a result, the Government implemented enhanced safety measures for lorries ferrying passengers in 2009 and 2010. These include fitting higher protective side railings and canopy covers, and higher penalties for non-compliance – up to five times more.

The Workgroup's recommendations aimed to protect not only the workers' safety, but also their livelihoods, which was a difficult challenge. Since then, we have continued to review and refine our regulations. For example, since 2015, all S Pass and Work Permit Holders are required to pass the necessary theory and practical driving tests before they can obtain a Singapore Class 3 licence that will allow them to drive light goods vehicles, including those which transport workers in the rear decks.

Over the last decade, the number of persons on-board lorries who were injured or killed in road traffic accidents has been on a downward trend. In 2019, the injury rate of persons on-board lorries is about 8.1 per 1,000 lorries, which is lower than the injury rate of persons on-board all motor vehicles at 8.4 per 1,000 motor vehicles. In 2020, traffic volumes were lower due to COVID-19 restrictions, and the injury rate of persons on-board lorries was about 4.5 per 1,000 lorries, compared to 5.6 persons on-board all motor vehicles per 1,000 motor vehicles. For this year up to March, the injury rate of persons on-board lorries is about 1.5 per 1,000 lorries, comparable with that for persons on-board all motor vehicles. Data for the full month of April 2021 is not yet available.

The number of persons on-board lorries who were killed in road traffic accidents has also been on a downward trend. From 2011 to 2015, an average of nine persons on-board per year were killed in road traffic accidents. This dropped to 2.6 per year from 2016 to 2020, or 2.5 if we exclude 2020.

That said, declining injuries and fatalities from such accidents should not make us complacent. One life lost is still one too many. Back in 2008, the Workgroup had thoroughly considered how to prevent this and many of the suggestions raised by the Members today were previously studied by the Workgroup. For example, the Workgroup found that retrofitting seat belts in the rear decks of lorries could result in other safety risks. This is because commercially available lorries are not designed for seatbelts to be installed in the rear deck and the floorboards in the rear deck might not be sufficiently strong to keep the seatbelts anchored in the event of an accident.

Compared to 10 years ago, regulatory changes at this time will cause even more acute pain to the industry, given that the industry is being severely affected by COVID-19. Worker supply has been disrupted leading to severe manpower shortages. Projects are already delayed and productivity has been affected because of safe management measures. Further regulations will likely have impact on the completion of various building projects, from BTOs to MRTs to nursing homes and hospitals, spell the demise of some companies and the loss of workers' livelihoods. We cannot simply ignore these considerations.

Notwithstanding the improvements made over the years, one fatality and, in fact, one injury, is still one too many. We appeal to all road users to drive safely and responsibly. The Government will continue to conduct public education so that lorry drivers and owners are reminded of the rules. LTA has also been stepping up enforcement to catch errant owners and drivers. The Government will continue to refine our policies and regulations to further minimise such situations involving our workers.

We have brought down the accident rates of lorries over the years and will continue to strive to do so. We note the concerns regarding this issue and understandably so. But this is an issue with multifaceted considerations and wider ramifications, including on workers' livelihoods. We will continue to review the safety rules, engaging the various stakeholders along the way, to see how to enhance these measures further.

Meanwhile, I urge all employers to do their part to ensure the welfare and safety of their staff. Members of the public can also call LTA's hotline to report any non-compliance with safety regulations.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Senior Minister of State for her response. We often quote trade-offs and costs as part of our decision-making matrix, but for the families in the recent accident who have lost their sons in Singapore, that cost would surmount all other costs that we talked about.

The Senior Minister of State spoke earlier about the Workgroup from way back. It has been over 10 years already. Would the Ministry consider, therefore, reconvening another workgroup to re-study new proposals as well as improvements in vehicle designs over the last 11 years that could potentially have new solutions to improve safety on board lorries?

In terms of other safeguards, there have been substantial studies internationally on the constraint of speed and how that would impact results out of accidents. So, therefore, would the Ministry also consider safeguards such as constraining speeds of lorries for the time being, until new solutions can be found, to perhaps 40 kilometres per hour, so that it significantly improves survivability as well as safety at this speed?

In terms of seat belt, I hear what the Senior Minister of State has said, that the design of the lorries and so on and so forth, but we have done that for the SAF; we have introduced seat belts on our five-tonners. Over and above that, will the Ministry also consider requiring owners and operators to tie down the equipment that they transport together with the workers because it is often these free-flying projectiles in an accident that cause a significant amount of injuries?

I thank the Member for his questions. Let me reiterate again that passengers' safety is very important, we agree with that. As I have said earlier, every fatality and every injury is one too many. We do want to continue to strive to enhance and preserve the safety of our workers when they are using the roads or when they are being ferried. But as I have also noted in my answer earlier, this is a multifaceted issue with many ramifications. Indeed, even as we consider all these issues, we need to be also mindful that we need to find a balance and calibrated approach in order to preserve the safety of our workers as well as their livelihoods.

With regard to the further questions on the various measures that could be taken, firstly, about re-convening the workgroup, as I have said, we have been monitoring the situation since the last review, as well as refining the measures. In 2015, they actually introduced the requirement of not just getting the foreign workers to take a basic theory test but also to pass our Class 3 driving licence if they want to drive the Class 3 vehicles.

And we are currently undertaking a review of the measures with the view of looking at how we can enhance these measures further, in order to improve safety for workers. We will need some time to engage the various stakeholders and we will take into account all the suggestions and proposals put forth. We look forward to working with the tripartite partners, the industry and unions on this to find the way forward; a sensible and sustainable way forward.

Regarding speed limits, presently, such light goods vehicles already have a speed limit of either 60 kilometres per hour or the posted vehicle speed for that area, whichever is lower. This is already well below the speed limit of 90 kilometres per hour on the expressway. So further reducing this speed is not recommended by the experts because when you increase the speed differential between the lorries and all the other motor vehicles on the expressway, it can lead to other safety issues. For instance, the increased tendency for overtaking manoeuvres which can increase the risk of accidents.

With regard to the study that the Member talked about, it is a Swedish study, which talks about the impact of the vehicle on passengers if an accident were to occur and that it would be less likely to cause serious and fatal injuries, if vehicles were travelling at a speed of below 40 kilometres per hour. So, that is really about the impact on the passengers. But here, we also need to consider the increased potential of the risk of accident in the first instance if we were to increase the speed differential.

But having said that, as I have said, in the review that we are undertaking, we will consider all views and suggestions. As what the Member said, there may be other areas that we can look into.

With regard to tying down equipment, actually under the Act as well as guidelines issued by the Workplace Safety and Health Council, the employers are already required to safely tie down the equipment or goods, or load the equipment or goods safely, so that these will not be a danger to the passengers. That is already a requirement. In fact, there are actually guidelines about loading the goods safely. If, in fact, the lorries have goods or equipment, then the deck space allowable for ferrying the workers would be correspondingly reduced. I think I have covered the Member's queries.

First, I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for her commitment towards safety for our migrant workers. The Senior Minister of State mentioned earlier that there will be a consultation with various stakeholders. I would like to know whether the question I asked, about studies to be done, about how much costs will be increased by increasing any safety measures, whether there are any studies done, whether such studies will be done, so that we can have a more informed discussion. Because every time we bring this topic up, we hear the counter-argument, saying there will be increased costs. So, we need to actually understand how much costs will be increased by, before we can have a meaningful conversation about whether or not there need to be further safety measures put in place.

The second point that I want to ask a supplementary question on is, the Senior Minister of State mentioned earlier as well that ferrying workers at the back of lorries is actually something that is done in other countries. But I note that this is not the case in all other countries. So, I would like to know whether a study can also be done into those countries that outlaw this sort of practices and to find out how, what sort of ways they use to overcome some of the costs and practical and operational issues that the Senior Minister of State mentioned earlier.

I thank the Member for her two supplementary questions. Indeed, as I have noted, when we did the last study there was strong feedback from the industry regarding the significant business costs. But, actually, in addition to that, I also mentioned that this, really, is not just about costs, it goes beyond costs. Because on the ground, there are significant real practical and operational challenges on top of just cost considerations.

But having said that, if we were to estimate the additional costs as a result of prohibiting the transport of workers in lorries and goods vehicles, then we will need to have an understanding of the options that the industry will pivot to, whether it is buses, minivans, goods-cum-passenger vehicles or even other options. And we will need to, really, undertake the detailed study and consultation with the industry. So, it is something that we can consider as part of the review.

With regard to international practices, as I have also said in my reply, international practices are varied. Indeed, some of these countries that do allow, we think that our challenges are not unique and they probably have similar challenges. But I agree that even as we undertake a review, we will consult the stakeholders and industries and we will also look at various practices as well as technologies like the Member Mr Alex Yam said earlier.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am glad to note from the hon Senior Minister of State's speech that the Government is looking at the safety of migrant workers being transported in lorries very seriously. The hon Senior Minister of State mentioned about projects being delayed in the course of this pandemic. There is a sense out there in the public, whether rightly or wrongly, that construction projects are being hurried to catch up with lost time. May I ask the hon Senior Minister of State what can be done in partnership with MOM to emphasise the safety message with the construction companies as well as the drivers?

I thank the Member for his question and for highlighting the fact that we need to continue to step up our outreach and engagement to the companies as well as to the drivers. TP, for instance, actually have regular safety talks to the drivers to raise road safety awareness as well as to adopt safe driving habits and we will need to continue to work together – LTA, together with TP and MOM – to reach out, step up public education, sustain public education and to remind them to comply. For instance, for the companies to comply with the rules and the safety rules and requirements that have already been put in place for workers' safety and to remind drivers of their obligations and responsibilities when ferrying workers.