Eighth foreign domestic worker falls to her death
Eight this year already.
That’s the number of foreign domestic workers who have fallen to their death so far this year, reportedly from cleaning windows.
On Thursday evening, an Indonesian maid fell from the ninth floor of Block 801 Woodlands Street 81. A stool and cleaning materials were found next to the window where the 25-year old worker fell, reported The Straits Times.
Her death comes amid a growing movement that calls for a total ban on the cleaning of window exteriors in high-rise flats.
Last weekend, Madam Halimah Yacob, the Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports, issued a strong warning to employers: Bar your domestic workers from opening window grilles and keep the keys to those grilles.
That came after the seventh death of a foreign domestic worker in her thirties who fell from a Punggol flat last Thursday.
Migrant workers shelter, Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME), echoed the same sentiments and called for a total ban on foreign domestic workers cleaning window exteriors.
In an ongoing Yahoo! Singapore poll, 76 per cent of nearly 6,000 respondents support the move to ban domestic workers from cleaning window exteriors.
Starting next month, all foreign domestic workers will have to undergo a new programme to orientate them about living and working safety in Singapore, announced the Ministry of Manpower recently.
Related articles:
1. Poll: Ban on cleaning window exteriors?
2. Indonesian maid found dead at foot of Punggol flat
