Why are we inserting enterprise prices above the worth of human life by transporting migrant employees on lorries in Singapore?
If you happen to’re a fellow Singaporean or resident, you may need spent 9 August absorbing the Singapore spirit, ogling good fireworks, or catching the parade. Yearly on Nationwide Day, we pause to ponder the strides we’ve taken since gaining independence in 1965. However whereas we commemorate our nation’s progress amidst the enduring buildings that outline our skyline, we typically neglect to increase the identical appreciation to the palms that constructed them – these of the migrant employees in Singapore.
These people toil below the recent solar to erect the houses, workplaces, purchasing malls, and leisure areas we dwell in and transfer by means of every single day. If you happen to haven’t heard, the latest spate of lorry accidents has turned the highlight again on a decade-old discourse concerning their transportation. And the responses from native entities and authorities have stirred doubts among the many public about their dedication to the welfare of those employees.
A fast recap on migrant employees and lorry transport in Singapore

On 18 July this yr, a three-lorry accident on the Kranji Expressway (KJE) resulted in 26 migrant employees going to the hospital. Only a day later, one other lorry mishap occurred on the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE), resulting in the hospitalisation of 10 extra employees.
In response, 47 organisations and members of the general public posted a petition containing a whopping 22,000 signatures. Its function? To ban the usage of lorries ferrying migrant employees in Singapore and forestall additional pointless loss of life. Signatures got here from advocacy teams just like the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Residence), ItsRainingRaincoats, and the Covid-19 Migrant Help Coalition (CMSC).
A subsequent joint assertion countered the preliminary petition and triggered a web-based uproar. It was endorsed by 25 enterprise associations, together with outstanding our bodies just like the Singapore Fintech Affiliation and the Singapore Nationwide Employers’ Federation. They urged the federal government to not ban lorry utilization, citing sensible and operational complexities.
To this point, we’ve gotten assurances from the authorities on further measures to safeguard migrant employees – although lorries aren’t outlawed as a mode of transportation. The query stays: will these actions be sufficient to handle a longstanding subject that has plagued us for over a decade?
The timeline: 14 years of lorry accidents

To know the gravity of the scenario, let’s look again on the historical past of lorry accidents involving migrant employees in Singapore. Way back to 2009, the Migrant Demise Map alleges that a mean of 4 employees per week confronted damage or loss of life in lorry accidents. In 2010, an accident on the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) led to a few deaths and 14 accidents. Two years later, a 19-year-old migrant employee who had solely been in Singapore for 5 months handed away in a lorry collision. Extra not too long ago, in 2021, two separate accidents involving 30 migrant employees on lorries led to 2 fatalities inside the span of 4 days.
These incidents have sparked parliamentary debates; even President Halimah Yacob highlighted the problem throughout her time as a Member of Parliament (MP). She described the matter as one which centred round ‘the lives and limbs’ of migrant employees and emphasised that lorries are meant for transporting items, not individuals.
After all, the federal government hasn’t sat idly by. Measures have been applied to enhance the security of transporting migrant employees in Singapore and cut back the loss of life toll. They embody the set up of canopies and better railings, the enforcement of scheduled 30-minute breaks, and the project of car buddies. Consequently, the typical variety of deaths from lorry accidents dropped from six per yr between 2013 and 2017 to a few per yr from 2018 to 2022.
Whereas these steps are commendable, they fall brief of what’s actually essential. We’ve seen cities like Hong Kong, Bahrain and London take proactive steps to ban the transportation of employees on lorries and guarantee their security. So why can’t we implement extra complete actions to prioritise the security of migrant employees in Singapore?

What are the boundaries to alter?

If you happen to’re questioning why we haven’t adopted swimsuit, authorities cite potential results which will negatively impression companies and shoppers.
Points embody heightened enterprise prices tied to hiring buses and drivers for employee transportation, elevated site visitors congestion with extra autos on the highway, and potential delays in initiatives like housing and MRT strains. Plus, companies that battle to adapt to those modifications – particularly small and medium enterprises – could face closure. And this is able to trigger their staff to lose their jobs. Some shoppers additionally fear that banning lorry utilization for employee transportation could trigger a trickle-down impact and enhance the present sky-high price of dwelling.
As irritating as these issues are, they shouldn’t justify the price of human life. To place issues into perspective, if these have been our relations, wouldn’t we demand the very best degree of security and safety for them? Shouldn’t we prioritise their well-being over any enterprise inconvenience?
Is that this the nation we envision ourselves to be?

With the present measures rolled out in Singapore, latest years have seen lorry mishaps represent roughly 4% of annual site visitors accidents. This quantity suggests fatalities and accidents are low – as in comparison with motorbike accidents, which make up 50% of the entire. However the worth of human lives shouldn’t be measured in information factors. The lack of a migrant employee’s life as a result of a preventable lorry accident isn’t only a numerical entry on an inventory. It’s stealing beloved sons and brothers from their households, robbing kids of their fathers, and snatching husbands from their wives.
When financial issues are positioned above the lives of weak employees, this will erode the general public’s religion within the authorities’s values and priorities – significantly in its dedication to the underprivileged and marginalised. So, does a stable center floor exist between the 2?
Whereas we will’t predict or management the federal government’s actions, we will all take small steps to help our migrant employees in Singapore. Organisations resembling TWC2, ItsRainingRaincoats, Residence, and SGForForeignWorkers advocate for higher welfare insurance policies, share the real-life experiences of migrant employees, and supply avenues for the general public to donate and volunteer.
There’s little doubt this can be a tough scenario to navigate. Nonetheless, as the thrill of the Nationwide Day celebrations subsides, let’s proceed to mirror on the Singapore we aspire to turn into.