After a woman had her left leg mangled by one of Don Mueang Airport’s moving walkways on June 29, many travellers have been cautious about using such conveyors.
The 57-year-old mother had to have her leg amputated, and her horrific experience made headlines locally and abroad.
There’s a lack of trust in the airport’s infrastructure following the accident, which has been blamed on missing screws under the moving walkway’s platform.
It is unforgivable for SET-listed AoT (Airports of Thailand) that this occurred. AoT has splurged cash to make airports such as Suvarnabhumi swanky to accommodate international travellers, but the broken travellator shows AoT’s real standards when it comes down to the matter of passenger safety.
Executives of AoT and those who oversee Don Mueang Airport need to be seriously investigated and held accountable.
As public concern with the Don Mueang Airport accident has yet to subside, drivers and pedestrians in Bangkok are perhaps also worried following the collapse of a flyover road under construction at Lat Krabang Intersection on Monday evening. At least two people were confirmed killed, while 12 were injured.
Such accidents should not have occurred in the first place. In countries with reliable safety standards, public infrastructure such as escalators and moving walkways are regularly checked and well maintained to ensure accidents just don’t happen.
AoT needs to find out how the maintenance team that reported running the safety check on June 21 failed to see the irregularity that caused the accident. It needs to ensure all similar infrastructure works properly and is risk-free.
Giving compensation to the victim is not enough.
At construction sites, effective safety controls need to be in place, with designated municipal safety officials regularly auditing safety guidelines, with contractors facing hefty penalties if they fail to comply.
Thailand is not among those countries with a high regard for safety regulations or procedures. The accident at Don Mueang Airport and the collapsed flyover are evidence of this.
They are not just misfortunes.
They result from the systematic failure to create a safety culture in the nation and the lack of enforcement of safety laws at construction sites, public infrastructure, and the country’s transport systems.
That leads to the question of what the next government must do to improve safety in such areas.
During the past few years, safety experts and civil engineers have asked governments to create a national committee to oversee public safety issues.
Instead of letting responsible agencies handle safety practices separately, this proposed national agency would prescribe public policies to enhance safety measures where needed.
Such an agency would oversee and regulate neutral safety audits to ensure all risk sites are inspected properly and regularly. Safety experts from the proposed agency would take part in inspections. It would be responsible for promoting and educating the public to instil a safety culture in Thailand while also ensuring that accident victims get fair compensation and treatment.
Recent accidents prove responsible ministries and local governments cannot ensure public safety. It is the duty and moral obligation of the next government and legislators to intervene to make Thailand a safer place.
