MARUAH Singapore

Mere Remembrance of Dead Workers without Enacting New Laws to ensure future safety of the Living is Meaningless

On the occasion of the International Workers’ Memorial Day or Workers’ Mourning Day, celebrated annually on  April 28, we, the 40 undersigned groups and trade unions lament the fact that workers’ death at worksites, have not resulted in the Malaysian government’s enactment of laws, regulations and standards that will prevent future deaths or injury in a similar situation.

International Workers’ Memorial Day or Workers’ Mourning Day is the international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work. The slogan for the day is Mourn for the dead, Fight for the living.

While we mourn the loss of lives and injuries of workers, we struggle and fight for the living with the object of reducing risk of future loss of life and injury at the work place.

In Malaysia, in 2018, there were 611 fatal accident cases. In 2017, there were 711 fatal accident cases. (Bernama, 11/07/2018; Star, 7/1/2020). Interestingly, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) records of fatal accident cases investigated in 2017 and 2018, are only 206 and 260 respectively, which means that investigations are yet to be completed even in so cases that resulted in death.

The construction sector records one of the highest number of fatalities. The Occupational Safety and Health Department’s (DOSH) statistics recorded 169 deaths and 3,911 accidents in the construction sector for 2018.( NST, 15/2/2020) The rate of fatality per 100,000 workers in the construction sector is 13.44 in 2018, as compared to 14.57 in 2017.

Malaysia’s Fatal Accident Rate (FAR) was not only 10 times worse than that of the United Kingdom but had in fact deteriorated by 20 per cent since the turn of the century, according to a Construction Industry Development Board report.

Deaths by reason of trench collapses – death by being buried alive

Jalmi, an Indonesian worker in his 20s, died after he was buried in a three-metre drain during excavation works in Shah Alam, Selangor in October 2015. (NST, 5/10/2015).

In March 2015, it was reported that 2 construction workers in Machang, Kelantan, a local man and a Myanmar national  were killed when earth collapsed and buried them in the hole whilst they were working on a water supply pipe project .(NST, 30/3/2015).

In September 2015, A Bangladeshi construction worker was killed in Kuala Lumpur after he was buried in a pile of soil, after the victim and his colleague had earlier dug a hole about three-meters deep to install underground pipes.(NST, 30/9/2015)

Nicholas anak Jawan, a 33-year-old worker, was killed in Sarawak after he was buried alive while building a deep monsoon drain (Malay Mail, 3/12/2019)

Md Shoriful, 43, and Julhas Rahman, 27, were killed when they were buried by mounds of falling earth at a housing project construction site in Mentakab, Temerloh where they were carrying out sewage pipe installation works. (BERNAMA/New Straits Times, 6/3/2020)

There will be much more similar cases, which unfortunately not all would have been reported by the media. Sadly, media reports also fails to respectfully name the workers who died, and also fails to make mention of the names of the companies and/or employers who may be responsible for these fatal accidents.

In the commemoration of this year’s IWMD, we call upon the Malaysian government to:

1. Enact and enforce laws and regulations that impose mandatory obligations to prevent further deaths in the future

Death by such trench collapses in Malaysia, and also all over the world, have been happening for years, and the question is why are there still no specific laws and regulations in place that will prevent such deaths in similar situations in the future.

What ought to be in such laws could be the requirement for needed supports and/or battering to prevent the soil from collapsing on workers working in such pits or trenches. The requirement for the need for safety inspection of the site by a competent person, before a worker is asked to enter any hole or trench of more than 1 meter depth, noting that safety will also be affected by type of soil, weather on that day, vibration caused by machines operating nearby or other reasons.

Specific regulations and standards are needed, rather than vague general laws that simply talk about ‘so far as practicable’ general obligations of safety and health. In some other countries, there are already laws that specifically deal with this like The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 in United Kingdom, and

There are so many employers and companies involved in construction works in Malaysia, and it absurd to expect them to know of all the dangers and risks involved in the various different aspects of their work. Employers and companies, may not be aware of the risks discovered at other worksites following some accidents, and as such may still be carrying out work in the same risky life-threatening manner through ignorance.

Thus, it is only reasonable and incumbent for the government, who has the data and expertise with regard to occupational safety and health issues, to do the needful through the making of needed regulations and/or laws, which includes steps to be taken by employers to ensure safety.

Every worksite incident that results in an accident, injury and/or death of a worker, ought to teach us what need to be done now to prevent future mishaps that may result in death of workers. The government is duty bound to take steps to ensure similar accidents do not recur anywhere, and the best solution is the enactment of clear laws, rules and regulations that will not only highlight the dangers, but will also make sure that employers and companies do the needful to reduce risk of death and injury. Mere guidelines or advisories are insufficient.

2. Make public and create awareness of Laws, Regulations and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

It is often that government mentions about SOPs and other legal requirements, but sadly many of these are not even known to workers and the public, thus making it impossible for people to even highlight actions and/or situations when employers and companies do not follow the law.

All applicable laws, regulations and SOPs must be made available to the public, including all websites of agencies, departments and Ministries having the responsibility for occupational safety and health.

3. Ensure deterrent sentences to reduce non-compliance, and reduce death and injury of workers

Worker lives and wellbeing are of primary importance, and as such penalty for employers and companies that breach laws that protect the safety and health of workers must be deterrent if Malaysia is truly concerned about human lives.

Currently penalties for violation of Occupational Safety and Health laws are fines, and a maximum of 2 years imprisonment. However, there seem to be no employers or Directors of companies that have been sent to prison, even when their failings have resulted in death and injury to workers. It is Directors and owners of companies that sometimes, to save cost, who choose to negate duties and obligations to do the needful to ensure worker safety and health.

Kevin Otto, owner of Atlantic Drain Services, a company in US was recently sentenced to two years imprisonment after being found guilty of two counts of manslaughter for the deaths of two employees, Robert Higgins and Kelvin Mattocks, who drowned in October 2018 in an unprotected, 14’ deep trench following a water main break. He was further penalized with three years’ probation following his sentence, and he can never again employ anyone in a job that involves excavation. (ISHN, 17/12/2019).

In other jurisdictions, stringent laws with higher penalties, including new offences, are being enacted with the object of reducing risk of life and injury to workers. In Australia, Industrial Manslaughter laws have been introduced.

LET NOT THE DEATH OF WORKERS NOT BE IN VAIN. PREVENT SIMILAR ACCIDENTS TO REDUCE FUTURE RISK OF LIVES OF OTHER WORKERS. 

Charles Hector

Apolinar Tolentino

 

For and on behalf of the following 40 groups

ALIRAN

WH4C(Workers Hub For Change)

Associated Labour Union, Philippines

Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters- HRDP in Myanmar

Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) Asia Pacific Region

Building and Wood Workers’ Federation of Myanmar

Center for Orang Asli Concerns(COAC)

Clean Clothes Campaign(CCC) South East Asian Coalition

Confederation of Trade Unions  Myanmar – CTUM

Electrical Trades Union of Australia

IMA Research Foundation, Bangladesh

International Black Women for Wages for Housework

Kesatuan Pekerja Atlas Edible Ice Sdn Bhd

Kesatuan Sekerja Industri Elektronik Wilayah Selatan, Semenanjung Malaysia (KSIEWSSM)/Electronic Industry Employees Union Southern Region Peninsular Malaysia(EIEUSRPM)

Labour Behind the Label

MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture)

MARUAH, Singapore

Marvi Rural Development Organization (MRDO), Pakistan

Migrant Care, Indonesia

NAMM (Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia)

National Union of Transport Equipment & Allied Industries Workers (NUTEAIW)

National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (NUFAM)

North South Initiative (NSI)

Odhikar, Bangladesh

Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor

Safety and Rights Society (SRS), Bangladesh

Tenaganita, Malaysia

Timber Employees Union of Peninsula Malaysia

Union Network International- Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC)

Women of Color/Global Women’s Strike, United Kingdom

Bangladesh Group THE Netherlands

Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER)

Sabah Timber Industry Employees Union (STIEU)

African Resources Watch (Afrewatch)

Association Of Home And Maquila Workers, ATRAHDOM- Guatemala.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia(PSM)

AMMPO-SENTRO – Asosasyon ng mga Makabayang Manggagawang Pilipino Overseas – Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Association of Nationalist Filipino Workers- Sentro a labor center in the Philippines)

Payday Men’s Network UK

Payday Men’s Network US

Workers Assistance Center, Inc. Philippines

Datuk Dr Ronald McCoy

At a time when some of our human rights have been restricted in order to implement public health measures, human rights defenders are more crucial than ever in our struggle to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that no one is left behind. The doc includes recommendations to states on the protection and recognition of HRDs and the key role they play in the current crisis worldwide.

View report in English here

Link here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/02/joint-civil-society-statement-states-use-digital-surveillance-technologies-fight

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health emergency that requires a coordinated and large-scale response by governments worldwide. However, States’ efforts to contain the virus must not be used as a cover to usher in a new era of greatly expanded systems of invasive digital surveillance.

We, the undersigned organizations, urge governments to show leadership in tackling the pandemic in a way that ensures that the use of digital technologies to track and monitor individuals and populations is carried out strictly in line with human rights.

Technology can and should play an important role during this effort to save lives, such as to spread public health messages and increase access to health care. However, an increase in state digital surveillance powers, such as obtaining access to mobile phone location data, threatens privacy, freedom of expression and freedom of association, in ways that could violate rights and degrade trust in public authorities – undermining the effectiveness of any public health response. Such measures also pose a risk of discrimination and may disproportionately harm already marginalized communities.

These are extraordinary times, but human rights law still applies. Indeed, the human rights framework is designed to ensure that different rights can be carefully balanced to protect individuals and wider societies. States cannot simply disregard rights such as privacy and freedom of expression in the name of tackling a public health crisis. On the contrary, protecting human rights also promotes public health. Now more than ever, governments must rigorously ensure that any restrictions to these rights is in line with long-established human rights safeguards.

This crisis offers an opportunity to demonstrate our shared humanity. We can make extraordinary efforts to fight this pandemic that are consistent with human rights standards and the rule of law. The decisions that governments make now to confront the pandemic will shape what the world looks like in the future.

We call on all governments not to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with increased digital surveillance unless the following conditions are met:

1. Surveillance measures adopted to address the pandemic must be lawful, necessary and proportionate. They must be provided for by law and must be justified by legitimate public health objectives, as determined by the appropriate public health authorities, and be proportionate to those needs. Governments must be transparent about the measures they are taking so that they can be scrutinized and if appropriate later modified, retracted, or overturned. We cannot allow the COVID-19 pandemic to serve as an excuse for indiscriminate mass surveillance.
2. If governments expand monitoring and surveillance powers then such powers must be time-bound, and only continue for as long as necessary to address the current pandemic. We cannot allow the COVID-19 pandemic to serve as an excuse for indefinite surveillance
3. States must ensure that increased collection, retention, and aggregation of personal data, including health data, is only used for the purposes of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collected, Fed, and aggregated to respond to the pandemic must be limited in scope, time-bound in relation to the pandemic and must not be used for commercial or any other purposes. We cannot allow the COVID-19 pandemic to serve as an excuse to gut individual’s right to privacy.
4. Governments must take every effort to protect people’s data, including ensuring sufficient security of any personal data collected and of any devices, applications, networks, or services involved in collection, transmission, processing, and storage. Any claims that data is anonymous must be based on evidence and supported with sufficient information regarding how it has been anonymized. We cannot allow attempts to respond to this pandemic to be used as justification for compromising people’s digital safety.
5. Any use of digital surveillance technologies in responding to COVID-19, including big data and artificial intelligence systems, must address the risk that these tools will facilitate discrimination and other rights abuses against racial minorities, people living in poverty, and other marginalized populations, whose needs and lived realities may be obscured or misrepresented in large datasets. We cannot allow the COVID-19 pandemic to further increase the gap in the enjoyment of human rights between different groups in society.
6. If governments enter into data sharing agreements with other public or private sector entities, they must be based on law, and the existence of these agreements and information necessary to assess their impact on privacy and human rights must be publicly disclosed – in writing, with sunset clauses, public oversight and other safeguards by default. Businesses involved in efforts by governments to tackle COVID-19 must undertake due diligence to ensure they respect human rights, and ensure any intervention is firewalled from other business and commercial interests. We cannot allow the COVID-19 pandemic to serve as an excuse for keeping people in the dark about what information their governments are gathering and sharing with third parties.
7. Any response must incorporate accountability protections and safeguards against abuse. Increased surveillance efforts related to COVID-19 should not fall under the domain of security or intelligence agencies and must be subject to effective oversight by appropriate independent bodies. Further, individuals must be given the opportunity to know about and challenge any COVID-19 related measures to collect, aggregate, and retain, and use data. Individuals who have been subjected to surveillance must have access to effective remedies.
8. COVID-19 related responses that include data collection efforts should include means for free, active, and meaningful participation of relevant stakeholders, in particular experts in the public health sector and the most marginalized population groups.

Link: https://www.icj.org/covid-19-use-of-digital-surveillance-technologies-must-be-human-rights-compliant/

Today, the ICJ joined more than 100 other organizations to urge States to ensure that any use of digital technologies to track and monitor individuals and populations as part of measures to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic is fully human rights compliant.

The organizations warned that efforts to contain the virus must not be used as a cover to impose greatly expanded systems of invasive digital surveillance that are likely to be abused, unless adequate safeguards are put in place to protect freedom of expression, the right to privacy and other rights.

Technology can and should play an important role in the midst of the current crisis to protect the rights to health, life and security.

Deploying non-consensual State digital surveillance powers however can risk violations of the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, information and association. If implemented in an arbitrary or discriminatory way, and without adequate oversight, these measures risk damaging public trust in state authorities and undermining the effectiveness of any public health response. Non-consensual digital surveillance measures may also disproportionately exacerbate discrimination against already marginalized communities.

The organizations called on all governments to ensure that increased digital surveillance measures meet the following conditions:

1. Surveillance measures adopted to address the pandemic must be lawful, necessary and proportionate. Governments must be transparent about the measures they are taking so that they can be scrutinized and, if appropriate, later modified, retracted, or overturned.
2. Expansion of monitoring or surveillance measures must be time-bound, and only continue for as long as necessary to address the current pandemic.
3. States must ensure that increased collection, retention, and aggregation of personal data, including health data, is only used for the purposes of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collected, retained, and aggregated to respond to the pandemic must be limited in scope, time-bound in relation to the pandemic and must not be used for commercial or any other purposes.
4. Governments must take every effort to protect people’s data, including ensuring sufficient security of any personal data collected and of any devices, applications, networks, or services involved in collection, transmission, processing, and storage. Any claims that data is anonymous must be based on evidence and supported with sufficient information regarding how it has been anonymized.
5. Any use of digital surveillance technologies in responding to COVID-19, including big data and artificial intelligence systems, must address the risk that these tools will facilitate discrimination and other rights abuses against racial minorities, people living in poverty, and other marginalized populations, whose needs and lived realities may be obscured or misrepresented in large datasets.
6. If governments enter into data sharing agreements with other public or private sector entities, they must be based on law, and the existence of these agreements and information necessary to assess their impact on privacy and human rights must be publicly disclosed – in writing, with sunset clauses, public oversight and other safeguards by default. Businesses involved in efforts by governments to tackle COVID-19 must undertake due diligence to ensure they respect human rights, and ensure any intervention is firewalled from other business and commercial interests.
7. Any response must incorporate accountability protections and safeguards against abuse. Increased surveillance efforts related to COVID-19 should not fall under the domain of security or intelligence agencies and must be subject to effective oversight by appropriate independent bodies. Individuals must be given the opportunity to know about and challenge any COVID-19 related measures to collect, aggregate, and retain, and use data.
8. COVID-19 related responses that include data collection efforts should include means for free, active, and meaningful participation of relevant stakeholders, in particular experts in the public health sector and marginalized population groups.

Link to joint statement here.

Make COVID-19 an Occupational Disease under Law to ensure social protection for all workers and their families

We, the 51 undersigned groups, organizations and trade unions, in response to the advent of Covid-19, an infectious disease that can easily be transmitted to other human persons, including workers, urge that the Malaysian government immediately recognize and make Covid-19 an occupational disease.

By so doing, workers who are infected by Covid-19 at their workplace, even during this period, will become entitled to social protection accorded by social security schemes and laws.

For those who die, by reason of getting infected by Covid-19 at the workplace, will also be easily entitled to compensations, and their spouses/children/elderly parents will also become entitled to survivor benefits including pensions.

Employers have a duty in law to ensure a safe working environment, and will also now be required to ensure that the workplace is safe from Covid-19 and/or any other dangerous communicable diseases, especially those can result in death or other permanent disabilities.

With the movement control order in place, which still requires workplaces that provide for essential services to operate, workers traveling to and from work, and at these workplace are everyday at risk of being infected by the Covid-19 virus, which to date has also resulted in many deaths worldwide, and as such workers need protection, and this can be done by specifically classifying Covid-19 as an occupational disease.

Now, recently even workers in charge of Human Resources, are required to travel and return to their workplaces for the purposes of arranging the monthly payment of salaries to workers.

Workers who are also needed (or forced) to stay in particular accommodation by employers, should also be covered. This also ought to be considered an ‘occupational disease’, and be accorded all the needed social protection.

While the Covid-19 pandemic highlights the inadequacies in occupational safety and health laws, and also social security laws for workers, it is time to remedy these failings.

One must note, that in the past, there has also been allegations of some workers forced to house together or work together has ended up contracting life threatening ailments like tuberculosis from other workers they are made to stay and/or work with.

All such ailments, not just Covid-19, which can cause death or other disabilities that may impact these workers future employment and income, ought to be specifically classified as occupational diseases, and workers should be accorded all benefits under social protection laws.

These laws should apply to all workers, including migrant workers and domestic workers.

In Malaysia, local workers are generally covered by the Employees’ Social Security Act 1969, which provides better protection to workers and/or their families compared to the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1952 that generally covered migrant workers. There must be equal protection for all workers, even domestic workers.

For now, The Human Resource Minister, can use the powers conferred by subsection 32(2) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 [Act 514], and declares that Covid-19 be recognized as an occupational diseases. Other changes and/or amendments to law to ensure equal protection to all workers may require Parliament.

Therefore, we

–          Call on Malaysia to  immediately make Covid-19 an occupational disease, especially if it is contracted at the workplace, on journey to and from work, and in worker accommodations provided by the employer;

–          Call on Malaysia to amend all relevant worker social security law, to ensure appropriate just remedy to workers, their families and/or dependents especially in the event of death, or disability impacting future capacity to work and/or earn an income;

–          Call on Malaysia to ensure that employers are legally bound to provide a safe working environment, including safety from infection from human to human contact at the workplace for diseases like Covid-19,

–          Call on Malaysia and all employers to ensure that occupational safety and health of all workers are always prioritized and protected.

Charles Hector

Apolinar Tolentino

 

For and on behalf of the following 51 groups

WH4C(Workers Hub For Change)

Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC)

Clean Clothes Campaign Network (CCC)

Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) Asia Pacific Region

Labour Behind the Label, United Kingdom

Odhikar, Bangladesh

National Union of Transport Equipment & Allied Industries Workers (NUTEAW), Malaysia

Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER)

Timber Industry Employee Union Sarawak (TIEUS)

MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture)

North South Initiative(NSI)

Kesatuan Sekerja Industri Elektronik Wilayah Selatan, Semenanjung Malaysia (KSIEWSSM)

Sarawak Banking Employees Union

MTUC Sarawak (Malaysian Trade Union Congress – Sarawak)

Malayan Technical Services Union

Timber Employees Union of Peninsula Malaysia

Malay Forest Officers Union

PKNS Union

Sabah Timber Industry Employees Union

National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (NUFAM)

Legal Action for Women, United Kingdom

Global Womens Strike, United Kingdom

Malaysian Automotive Industry Workers Union Federation

Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM)

National Union of Banking Employees(NUBE)

Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor

Single Mothers’ Self-Defence, United Kingdom

Association of Human Rights and Defenders and Promoters- HRDP(Myanmar)

Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), India

MARUAH, Singapore

IMA Research Foundation, Bangladesh

Legal Awareness Watch (LAW), Pakistan

Asociación de Trabajadoras del Hogar a Domicilio y de Maquila–Atrahdom, Guatemala

Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity (PACTI), India

Marvi Rural Development Organization (MRDO), Pakistan

Onward Consulting, Malaysia

Women of Colour Global Women Strike, United Kingdom

Payday, United Kingdom

Women Against Rape (UK)

Bangladesh Group Netherlands

International  Black Women for Wages for Housework

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, UK

Asosasyon ng mga Makabayang Manggagawang Pilipino Overseas in Malaysia (AMMPO-SENTRO)

European Rohingya Council

WinVisible (women with visible & invisible disabilities)

Campaign Abiti Puliti (Italian CCC)

Collectif Etique sur l’etiquette, France

Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia(NAMM)

Gender Alliance for Development Center, Albania

Sudwind, Austria

Radanar Ayar Association, Myanmar

* When intially released, there were 47, but now there are 51 groups who jointly issued this statement

CSOs JOINT-STATEMENT_ ASEAN urged to heed UN Sec-Gen call for global ceasefire, ensure human rights amid COVID19 – FINAL 1 April 2020

Please click on link below to view the joint statement which MARUAH has endorsed with 35 other organizations:

17032020 – Joint Statement – ASEAN to ensure human rights and dignity on responding COVID – with SAPA input-final.pdf

The annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – the Human Rights Reports – cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements. The U.S. Department of State submits reports on all countries receiving assistance and all United Nations member states to the U.S. Congress in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Trade Act of 1974.

The 2019 Singapore country report is available at https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/SINGAPORE-2019-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf