The Straits Times report focusing on workers sleeping at Woodlands MRT station highlights a common experience (Having a shut-eye at Woodlands MRT station before their shift starts, Jan 17).

Many workers are taken to their worksites way ahead of the time they start work, and/or are picked up long after they have finished working.

This is due to the limited number of transport vehicles that companies use to ferry workers to and from the worksites.

Most of these men endure long hours of physical labour.

The little time they have to sleep and relax is further taken up by having to leave the dormitory hours before work, and to wait hours for the transport at the end of their shift.

It is no wonder that they take any opportunity to nap wherever and whenever they can.

Transient Workers Count Too has argued before that exhaustion is a factor in accidents that can lead to injury or death among migrant workers in the construction sector.

Insufficient sleep due to long hours of work, a long wait for transport to and from work and long journeys are factors contributing to this.

Staying close to residential areas would allow more workers to use public transport and allow them to reach worksites on their own.

Staying in remote dormitories presents transportation problems for employers.

Buses and minivans ought to be the main mode of transport, and they need to be provided, rented or purchased in sufficient numbers to allow employers to ferry workers safely and with due respect for their dignity and their need for rest.

Deborah Desloge Fordyce

President

Transient Workers Count Too