Call to pay commercial drivers a fixed salary

Safety council says not paying per trip may reduce incentive to rush

By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 3 Sep 2013

ALL commercial drivers should be given a fixed salary to help reduce deaths on the road, a government safety board has recommended.

It says no longer paying per journey could reduce the incentive to rush.

The proposal by the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council follows calls for action in the wake of January's horrific concrete truck accident that killed two young brothers in Tampines. And it comes ahead of a change in the law next year that will mean companies have to report all work-related traffic accidents.

Many drivers already get a fixed wage, The Straits Times understands. But it is also common for them to receive incentives for each trip. "I think the element of incentives is inevitable," said OCWS Logistics general manager Christopher Yeo.

The proposal is one of many in new draft guidelines developed by the council. Other topics covered include routes, vehicle maintenance and drivers' work schedules.

Details were revealed yesterday at a forum organised by the WSH Council and Manpower Ministry (MOM). Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower and Education Hawazi Daipi also announced that drivers will have to report all work-related traffic accidents from next year.

"This amendment will enable us to be more effective in tracking the frequency and causes of work-related traffic accidents to identify possible areas of intervention," he said.

From now on, work-related traffic accidents will be included in the half-yearly WSH statistics report. "As business leaders that have control over a large fleet of vehicles and drivers, your role is especially important," Mr Hawazi told about 400 industry players at the forum.

He added that 30 per cent of vehicles in Singapore are used for work. Last year, 13 people died in work-related traffic accidents, up from 10 in 2011.

Many companies are already taking steps to make the roads safer. Mr Yeo's firm tracks its 100-odd drivers using an in-vehicle monitoring system, which can tell whether they buckle up, speed, brake suddenly, and so on. This makes them more aware of their behaviour and encourages safer driving.

MOM is now studying whether such systems can improve traffic safety, while the WSH Institute is studying the impact of a rotating night shift on logistics drivers.

Meanwhile, the WSH Council is making an educational video on safe driving for heavy vehicles, to be released later this month. It will also hold two safety clinics for employers, together with the ministry, the traffic police and Singapore Road Safety Council.

"We cannot... shift the responsibility of driving safely solely to the drivers," said Mr Hawazi.

Nigel Yap Yew Cheong, 13, and Donavan Yap Teck Siong, seven, died after being hit by the concrete mixer at a junction on Jan 28. Its driver has pleaded not guilty to causing death by negligence.

A draft of the WSH Council's guidelines is available on its website. Feedback can be sent to contact@wshc.gov.sg by Oct 2.

More trips, more pay: 'Incentive for drivers'
Fixed salary could affect productivity and cost, say building contractors
By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 5 Sep 2013

FOR firms which deliver building materials, it is hard to stop paying drivers based on the number of trips they make, say industry players.

Despite proposed guidelines to halt such practices, companies may not comply because of concerns over productivity and cost.

"Paying per trip is really to give workers an incentive," said Singapore Contractors Association president Ho Nyok Yong.

The guidelines on work-related road safety were released by the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council on Monday.

And a key recommendation is to avoid paying drivers on a "per-trip" basis as this could encourage them to speed or work longer hours, leading to fatigue.

But for many companies, this is not the practice. Logistics firms such as Griffin Kinetic say the norm is fixed pay with overtime. Paying per trip is an issue in the construction industry rather than transport services, said its general manager, Mr Eric Tan.

"They should not lump us together," he added.

Even in the construction sector, fixed salaries are common for drivers who transport workers, or in firms with small fleets.

Being paid per trip is more common for drivers of concrete mixers or tipper trucks which ferry sand from construction sites to dump sites.

The WSH Council's suggested alternative is to pay a fixed salary and assign "a reasonable number of trips per day" to drivers. But firms say it is not that straightforward.

"It's difficult to say 'in one day, you must run four trips or five trips'," said Tiong Seng Contractors director Derick Pay.

Not all trips are equal. A driver might do two long trips on one day and five short ones on another. Job volume varies, so the number of trips needed each day fluctuates. It is also hard to plan a roster in advance as delivery orders tend to come only a day in advance or even on the same day.

Tiong Seng thus pays its drivers a fixed basic salary, but with an extra amount for each trip.

Practical issues aside, Mr Pay thinks paying drivers on a per-trip basis also gets them "to give their best". If drivers have a fixed wage regardless of trip volume, they may dawdle, he added.

With a shortage of drivers in the industry, per-trip pay is also seen as a way to entice and retain drivers due to the possibility of earning more in good months.

"By paying a fixed salary, you won't get drivers," said Chuan Lim Construction general manager Albert Quek.

What about a high fixed salary? For instance, some logistics firms have smaller trip-based incentives with a high basic pay.

For building materials suppliers, where demand is more volatile, high basic pay would mean very high fixed costs, said Mr Philip Lu, executive director of G&W Ready-Mix, which supplies ready-mixed concrete.

Anything from bad weather to stop-work orders could cause business to slow, he added.

Rather than change the pay structure, Mr Lu prefers another suggestion in the WSH Council's draft guidelines: rewarding workers for safe behaviour.

G & W Ready-Mix keeps a record of drivers' fines, insurance claims and driving behaviour as tracked by its global positioning system and sensors which can detect sudden braking and swerving.

Apart from helping to point out which drivers might need counselling, the record also forms a basis for annual appraisal.

In response to queries, the WSH Council said it understands the industry's concerns and welcomes suggestions to improve the guidelines. Public consultation on the draft continues till Oct 2.