SINGAPORE - There is at least one major contractor which transports its workers in buses, instead of on the back of lorries - the usual mode for industries here which is sanctioned by the authorises.

NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Melvin Yong said on Facebook he visited one such company on Friday (May 14) - homegrown Woh Hup, which is one of the biggest builders here with over 2,500 workers.

Mr Yong, who is also MP for Radin Mas, said Woh Hup is not the only one, as "a number of companies in the construction sector have already been transporting their workers in buses for years".

"Woh Hup (Private) Ltd... is one good example," he said."Earlier this morning, I visited the company together with my NTUC Singapore and BATU Building Construction And Timber Industries Employees' Union colleagues, to check out how their workers are transported via buses, and to better understand the challenges that the company had to overcome when they started this practice.

"A couple of workers that I spoke to told me that they felt safer being transported to work in a bus. The company charters buses to ferry the bulk of their workers, including those from their sub-contractors to and from work daily."

Woh Hup executive director Yong Mee Him told The Straits Times that the company has had this practice since before the pandemic.

"It costs more, but it's safer and more convenient for the workers," he said.

MP Mr Yong ended his post with the hashtag #EveryWorkerMatters.

Responding to calls by MPs to find safer ways to ferry migrant workers, Senior Minister of State for Transport Amy Khor said on May 10 that 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.