46 workers have died in workplace accidents in S'pore in first 8 months of 2016

Tallying the annual human cost of development.

Tsiuwen Yeo | Belmont Lay | September 04, 2016, 03:49 PM

On July 1, 2016, the number of workers who died at their workplace was 42.

Within five weeks on Aug. 8, the number of fatalities increased to 46.

That was when a construction worker was killed in a workplace accident in Tuas that day.

According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), a lifting chain carrying a heavy load snapped, causing the chain to swing outwards hitting the worker.

The man was taken to Ng Teng Fong Hospital, where he died from his injuries at about 7pm that day.

From the news report, there was no mention of his identity or even his nationality.

But it is certain he was not local.

Difficult to make comparisons though

How can we try to interpret these numbers? And where do these numbers stand?

To put the number of workplace accident deaths in perspective: In 2014, the total number of workers killed was 60.

In 2015, 66 workers were killed in workplace accidents.

Therefore, in 2016, it looks highly likely the trend is set to match those in previous years, despite the implementation and enforcement of counter-measures, such as extending stop-work periods from two to three weeks and making it harder for recalcitrant employers to hire workers from overseas in the future.

However, another way to make comparisons is to try to reconcile what you know now with what has been reported. In fact, not just reported, but events that have received far greater visibility in the mainstream press.

In comparison, with a million vehicles plying the roads in Singapore, road accidents contributed to 155 deaths in 2014 and 152 deaths in 2015.

Meanwhile, six people have died this year from dengue -- up from four deaths in 2015.

Zika's spread in Singapore is another reminder

The annual tallying of the number of workplace fatalities is a reminder that the human cost of development in Singapore is stark. But it is often overlooked or under-mentioned, unless the media intentionally sets out covering it in slightly more detail -- such as how foreign workers killed at work are given dignified farewells.

However, with Singaporeans understandably panicking about the Zika virus spread locally now, more light has inevitably been shed on the plight of the underclass whose hands help build Singapore.

In the latest update, which Singaporeans pay attention to with bated breath, authorities said on Saturday, Sept. 3, that the total number of confirmed locally-transmitted Zika virus cases in Singapore has reached 215.

But just a week before this, it was evident that those initially discovered to be infected belonged to one particular strata of society: Of the initial 41 cases reported, 36 were migrant workers who work in construction sites.

Though cases were limited to these areas on Monday, by late Tuesday the Ministry of Health reported 26 new cases that showed how the Zika virus had spread to nearby residential areas.

As of Wednesday, Aug. 31, 57 reported cases are among foreign construction workers based in the residential Aljunied Crescent neighborhood in Singapore.

Hence, whether this metaphor of how the problems that beset the isolated underclass will eventually have reverberating effects on the society-at-large is too poetic, remains to be seen.

 

Top image from Flickr via Gwydion M. Williams

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