MANAMA: Traffic authorities are coming down heavily on employers who transport their workers in open trucks following the implementation of a ban on such modes of transport this week.
“We gave companies a grace period to replace their six-wheel trucks. The decision comes after a comprehensive study which showed there was a string of fatal and serious accidents involving trucks in the past three years,” said Lt. Col. Khalid Rabea Al-Dossary, director of License Affairs.
The ban was originally due to be implemented on Jan. 1, but was delayed after contractors said they needed more time to upgrade their vehicles.
Businessmen estimate the cost of providing air-conditioned buses or vehicles to transport workers would cost about BD50 million to BD100 million, which, they say, is not practical and would affect productivity. An Asian worker was partially paralyzed on Tuesday in a truck accident. The man slammed into the side of a truck after the driver suddenly braked. “He received severe injuries to his neck, which led to partial paralysis,” an official said.
Under the new regulations, drivers and vehicle owners who transport laborers in open trucks face six months imprisonment or fines. Anyone who ignores the rules will be hauled before the Public Prosecution.
A Labor Ministry official said that in the first quarter of the year, 33 work-related accidents, including eight death cases, were reported. In 2006, three workers were killed and 21 injured in a truck collision.
Three weeks before this incident, 28 construction workers were injured when they were thrown from the back of an open truck.
