KUALA LUMPUR - Migrant worker advocacy groups have renewed calls for a ban on transporting workers on the back of lorries following a traffic accident in Orchard Road, Singapore that injured 13 people.

The incident occurred in the early hours of January 28 and involved a lorry carrying migrant workers and a car.

The crash has revived long-standing concerns over the safety of using open-deck lorries to ferry workers in Singapore.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted to the accident at about 6.20am at the junction of Orchard Road and Orchard Link, as reported by The Online Citizen.

Paramedics conveyed six people to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and seven others to Singapore General Hospital.

Another five people were assessed at the scene for minor injuries but declined hospital treatment.

Police said they were alerted to the collision at about 6.15am and confirmed that all 13 casualties taken to hospital were conscious.

They included a 64-year-old male car driver and 12 male foreign workers aged between 30 and 51 who were passengers on the lorry.

Investigations into the accident are ongoing.

Following the incident, the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) reiterated its position that transporting workers on lorries is unsafe and undermines their dignity.

In a social media post on January 28, HOME said the Orchard Road crash highlighted the dangers of the practice and renewed its call for a complete ban.

The group urged the Government to act without further delay and pursue safer and more humane transport options.

Workers Make Possible also criticised existing measures, saying speed limiters and safety modifications were insufficient.

The group said the issue should have been treated as an emergency many accidents ago and called for an end to incremental solutions.

It added that part of the estimated S$6 billion collected annually from foreign worker levies could be used to subsidise safer transport for smaller firms.

The latest crash has once again revived debate over a practice that remains legal despite years of public scrutiny.

Civil society groups have cited data showing that between 2020 and 2024, an average of 161 workers were injured each year while being transported on lorries.

In 2023, more than 50 community organisations signed a joint statement opposing the continued use of lorries for worker transport.

The groups said lorries are not designed for human passengers and expose workers to risks such as traffic injuries, heat stress and heavy rain.

They also noted that between 2011 and 2020, 58 workers died and 4,765 were injured in lorry-related accidents.

The signatories called for alternatives such as shared buses, minibuses and goods-cum-passenger vehicles.

The issue was raised in Parliament on September 23, 2025, by Sengkang MP He Ting Ru.

In a written reply, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow said the Ministry of Transport had conducted studies but found it difficult to quantify the full economic impact of a ban.

He said the effects would be both direct and indirect and involved factors that were hard to measure accurately.

One key challenge cited was manpower, as shifting all workers to buses would require many more drivers.

Siow noted that hiring and retaining drivers remained difficult even in the public bus sector despite wage adjustments.

He said the ministry’s priority was to improve worker transport safety and that it would continue working with industry and tripartite partners.

According to Siow, measures such as mandatory canopies, higher side railings, lower speed limits and minimum space requirements have been introduced.

Advocacy groups, however, argued that these measures do not address the fundamental risks of open-deck transport.