Bangkok—
At 10:30 AM, on December 16th, 2023, Bangkok engineering teams and relevant agencies launched a field inspection on an incident where a large amount of steel construction equipment fell on a worker leading to his death on Rama 2 road, Bang Khun Thian, Bangkok.
After the incident, the Expressway Authority of Thailand suspended any activity on the construction site for seven days to investigate the case.
Initially, relevant agencies would gather evidence at the incident scene to determine the exact cause of the incident. Samae Dam police officers interrogated supervising engineers who controlled the crane involved and ordered them to suspend any activities involving moving construction objects from the construction site to allow for further investigation.
It was reported by the associated Thai press that in regards to the overall statistics from the construction of the Rama 2 Road highway, within 5 years from 2018 to 2022, there were a total of 2,242 accidents, 130 fatalities, and 1,303 injuries.
Regarding statistics for accidents on Rama 2 Road from January 1st to just April 30, 2023, there were 262 accidents, resulting in 12 fatalities and 138 injuries.
However, the endless construction on Rama 2 has been ongoing for more than 50 years. It was first constructed in 1970 before extending to more lanes and building an elevated highway, TPN noted.
The shocking statistics have caused many activists and netizens to urge the Thai government to get involved in stricter safety regulations and precautions to ensure the well-being of all workers. Many of the workers on these projects are migrants from nearby countries, causing concerns from some activists and urging relevant agencies to treat them the same as they would a Thai employee.
The Rama 2 Road has also caused the deaths of many drivers and is a major source of accidents.
The identity of the construction worker killed in this most recent accident was not released by authorities.
