Transportation of Workers in Rear Decks of Lorries

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Transport (a) in which year was the Ministry first aware that key authorised lorry suppliers in Singapore agree that from a road safety perspective, it will be ideal for lorries not to carry any passengers in their rear decks; and (b) how has the Ministry factored this information into its policymaking on transportation of workers.

I note that the Member has asked several Parliamentary Questions on this issue in recent years. We share his underlying concern for the safety of our workers.

As explained in previous Parliamentary replies, from a road safety perspective, it would be ideal for lorries not to carry any passengers in their rear decks. However, there are significant practical and operational considerations. This is why practices are varied internationally. For example, to our knowledge, countries, such as Thailand, as well as several jurisdictions in countries, such as Canada 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.

In Singapore, we have taken a multi-pronged approach to tackling this issue through a working committee comprising the Land Transport Authority, Ministry of Manpower, Traffic Police and the Building Construction Authority. The Committee engages and works closely with the key stakeholders, including lorry suppliers and companies, especially small and medium enterprises, to study measures to enhance safety for their workers. This is a continuing effort which the Government has undertaken over the years, taking into consideration the latest developments. Arising from this process, we have progressively implemented various measures to improve worker safety, including the requirement for all lorries ferrying passengers to be fitted with rain covers and the driver of the lorry to have worked no more than 12 hours that day.

We will continue to study further measures to improve the safety of workers being transported.