MWC calls for employers to provide safe pickup areas for workers

Employers should ensure that their workers can wait for and board their company-supplied transport safely.

Worker welfare group Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) said this is on top of making sure workers are transported with care to and from their worksites.

MWC executive director Michael Lim said: “We strongly encourage employers to adopt good practices and take proactive steps to minimise risks, such as providing clear safety guidelines and arranging transport pickup points in safer areas.”

The reminder comes in the wake of feedback The Straits Times received from several residents in Upper Bukit Timah Road, Woodlands and Choa Chu Kang, who said workers are often made to wait near busy roads for their transport.

Minibus driver S. Siva said he typically sees between 50 and 70 workers crowding near sharp bends in Woodlands Street 41, where the Singapore American School (SAS) is building an elementary school.

The road has two single lanes, each going in one direction.

Mr Siva, who lives in the area, said the situation is made worse by trucks that park illegally along the road while waiting for workers who end their shift at 7pm.

The 38-year-old said he finds it difficult to spot the workers, who often rush onto the road to get to their transport.

“I know the workers are tired, but if they sit away from the road, it would be safer. All it takes is for one of them to trip, and he will instantly land on the road in the path of vehicles,” he said.

“It is an accident waiting to happen,” said Mr Siva, adding that it has been like that for the last two years.

ST also spotted workers crowding outside construction sites in Upper Bukit Timah Road and Woodlands Avenue 1.

However, in Brickland Road, trucks were seen dropping workers off at designated areas in the construction site.

In Choa Chu Kang Avenue 3, migrant workers at an MRT line construction site walked 200m to a parking area for heavy vehicles, where they were picked up.

Construction company owner Mohd Salman employs about 50 construction workers, including several who drive the workers to and from worksites.

He said: “Some workers take shortcuts and risks, but this is also due to poor or no proper (safety) management implemented outside the worksites.”

Mr Hooi Yu Koh, chief executive of construction services company Kori Holdings, agreed that some project sites lack appropriate pickup locations.

“The issue is when it comes to smaller projects that do not control or provide such (safe pickup) locations,” said Mr Hooi, whose dual-role employees also transport workers to construction sites.

Mr Sean Lim, safety officer of the SAS construction project, said some drivers avoid designated pickup locations even when they are provided.

“The lorries and buses refused to enter the premises (at the SAS site) because the drivers said it was dangerous to do six-point turns on the narrow road in the school,” said Mr Lim.

On Jan 11, an area in the construction site was opened for them to safely pick up workers.

But workers still gathered along Woodlands Street 41. On some evenings, ST observed a line of seven lorries parked close to the bend, where they waited about 30 minutes for the workers.

 

“This issue has been an ongoing challenge for us.

“We give daily and monthly safety briefings that focus on work and road safety, including telling workers not to sit on kerbs,” said Mr Lim, who showed ST the contents of safety briefings from as early as July 2024.

The Land Transport Authority said pickup and drop-off activities, including for migrant workers, are not prohibited unless regulated by road markings and traffic signs.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said that given the diversity of pickup locations, it is not practical to specify additional regulations to manage activities that occur round the clock.

A spokesperson for the ministry said employers should designate safe waiting and pickup areas, and added that workers need to keep a good lookout for potential hazards and take appropriate precautions to keep themselves safe.

MOM reminded employers that they have to bear the cost of migrant workers’ medical treatment in Singapore, regardless of whether an injury is incurred at the workplace.

The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, or Home, said migrant workers are sometimes made to wait at the side of the road because they need to quickly board their transport.

Ms Jaya Anil Kumar, a senior manager at the non-governmental organisation, said: “The drivers are usually on a huge time crunch. They need to pick up the workers and equipment.”

 

MWC’s Mr Lim said employers can identify and designate safe, well-lit and sheltered waiting areas for transport pickups.

He added that workers can be guided to safe areas with the use of clear signage. They should also be educated on road safety and encouraged to avoid waiting near busy roads or unsafe locations. 

A Traffic Police spokesman said they conduct regular road safety talks for migrant workers and their employers, to remind employees of safe practices to adopt while waiting for transport.