I first saw the picture a Toyota Camry, turned upside down, crushed metal all over, and debris all over as though a bomb had exploded. It appeared unreal. But it did occur, in Kuala Lumpur, on Old Klang Road.
A 23-year-old car wash attendant was severely hurt after the car he had just washed fell off the third floor of a parking deck at a serviced apartment. According to the first report, he was attempting to park the car after cleaning it. He had mistakenly hit the accelerator, and that was the only instance of wrong judgment that crashed the car through the barriers.
It landed upside down on two cars — a Proton Iriz and a Perodua Myvi — that were parked below. Thankfully, no one was inside either of those cars at the time. But the worker was rushed to Universiti Malaya Medical Centre’s red zone with serious injuries.
Police are investigating under Section 43(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987, which deals with careless and inconsiderate driving.
The accident poses hard questions: Do car wash business run on high-rise floors have proper safety standards? Did it have reinforced barriers or wheel stoppers? It’s unclear.
What of training? Although valets usually must receive some basic training in car handling and customer service, the same cannot be said of car wash workers: many of them work informally or are employed without any formal qualifications. Such workers might not be regularly trained, safety briefed or exposed to adequate driving experience. However, they are frequently supposed to drive costly and powerful vehicles in a stressful environment and in small areas. When the criterion of dealing with such vehicles is high, then why not the expectations and preparation be the same?
One mistake is easy to blame. However, this tragedy serves as a reminder that workplace safety is important, particularly to frontline workers in hazardous workplaces. Perhaps, we should start posing more difficult questions regarding the systems that place them in danger.
Ian Low (junianlow6@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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