Following another crane collapse on Rama II Road on the morning of January 15, only hours after the tragic crane collapse in Sikhio District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, at the high-speed rail project site, Ms. Trinuch Thienthong, Minister of Labour, ordered the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare to immediately inspect the accident site and assess the damage. She also instructed safety inspectors and the Social Security Office to engage in discussions with both employers and employees to ensure urgent care and assistance. At the same time, she instructed inspections of safety standards at construction sites across Bangkok to reduce the risk of accidents, particularly at large-scale construction projects that involve heavy machinery and materials, including travelling steel gantry cranes, or LG cranes, which are generally required to comply with legal measures under the Ministerial Regulation on Prescribing Standards for the Management and Implementation of Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Environment in relation to Machinery, Cranes, Boilers, B.E. 2564 (2021).
Ms. Trinuch further stated that she has instructed the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, together with relevant agencies, to provide safety training for workers in the construction sector and those working at height, in accordance with established standards, to ensure worker safety. This is a mandatory requirement that employers must strictly comply with.
“Standards and safety requirements are clearly stipulated in the law, and the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare must closely monitor and supervise compliance. The recurrence of such incidents within only a few hours is unacceptable. I have instructed the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare to strictly enforce the rules. If any violations or failure to comply with safety standards are found, legal penalties must be imposed without exception,” the Minister of Labour said.
