Coronavirus: New guidelines for lorries used to ferry workers
Employers, lorry owners must review seating capacity and ensure safe distancing on board
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Workers crowded into the back of a lorry. In a joint advisory, the Manpower Ministry and Land Transport Authority said employers and lorry owners must ensure workers are able to maintain a safe distance of 1m.
PHOTO: ST READER
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Tee Zhuo
Safe distancing must be observed in lorries used to ferry workers involved in essential services, the authorities said yesterday.
In a joint advisory, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that in line with the new circuit breaker measures, employers and lorry owners should review the maximum seating capacity for each lorry.
This is to make sure workers can maintain a safe distance of 1m while they are seated in the back of the lorry. Labels or other methods should be used to mark out appropriate locations to sit, the authorities said, adding that these measures should be communicated to the workers and lorry drivers.
"If necessary, employers should make provisions for additional trips or lorries," they said.
The statement comes after readers told The Straits Times about lorries overcrowded with foreign workers seen on the road. Photos showed seven or more workers sitting in cramped conditions with little to no space between them.
Dormitory operators also told ST that person-to-person interaction as workers commute between the dormitories and their workplaces has been a worry during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Calvin Lim, general manager of Capital Development which operates Toh Guan Dormitory, said: "One of the concerns has always been mode of transport. For example, there are chances of (workers) catching the virus on the way back from work. It helps if a company takes steps to transport workers in a way that minimises contact."
Toh Guan Dormitory has 34 Covid-19 cases to date and is one of five dormitories gazetted as isolation areas, which means its workers cannot leave their rooms for 14 days.
Infections at foreign worker dormitories have risen sharply in recent days, with 202 of the record 287 cases confirmed on Thursday linked to such clusters, and another 79 out of 198 total confirmed cases yesterday.
In their statement, MOM and LTA said the measures are necessary to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 among workers.
"Employers and lorry owners are expected to comply with the above immediately until the end of the circuit breaker or when notified by the authorities," they said.
