Measures to Protect Workers and Prevent Mass Casualties in High-impact Road Accidents
Ministry of TransportSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns measures to protect workers transported on lorries from high-impact collisions and the prevention of mass casualties. Miss Rachel Ong inquired about mandating passenger restraints or speed-triggered alerts to enhance safety for workers sitting on rear decks. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Jeffrey Siow highlighted current regulations like canopies, higher railings, and mandatory speed limiters for specific lorries by July 2027. He noted that the Land Transport and Related Matters Bill 2026 includes heavier penalties for speed-limiter offences to reduce collision frequency and severity. Finally, he explained that seatbelts are currently infeasible because retrofitting could compromise structural integrity and create liability risks for manufacturers.
Transcript
68 Miss Rachel Ong asked the Acting Minister for Transport in respect of cases where workers were thrown from lorries during high-impact collisions, (a) whether new measures will be implemented to prevent mass casualties during such accidents; (b) if so, what measures; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider mandating passenger restraints, speed-triggered emergency alerts or other measures to protect workers sitting at the rear of lorries, particularly against high-impact accidents on expressways.
Mr Jeffrey Siow: We regularly review measures to improve the safety of workers on lorries. Some of these have been implemented in recent years, including requirements for lorries to be fitted with canopies and higher protective side railings, have lower speed limits and to meet minimum space requirements for workers at the rear deck. Lorries with maximum laden weight between 3,500 kilogrammes and 12,000 kilogrammes are also required to install speed limiters by 1 July 2027 to cap their maximum speed at 60 kilometres per hour. The Land Transport and Related Matters Bill 2026, introduced in the January Parliament Sitting, includes heavier penalties for speed-limiter related offences. Altogether, these measures help reduce the occurrences and severity of high-impact collisions, which improves the safety of worker transport.
We have consulted industry and academia extensively on the feasibility of fitting seatbelts on the rear decks of lorries. Such restraints would have to be retrofitted on existing lorries which may compromise the structural integrity of the lorry and create new safety risks. There are also liability issues, as manufacturers will not fit seatbelts onto the rear deck of new lorries, nor vouch for the safety of such lorries.