KO NYI NYI WORK ACCIDENT CASE STORY CONTINUES WITHOUT ANYONE ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY - SUPPORT STILL NEEDED Last night in Samui MWRN (Andy Hall) and HRDF (Aye Mar Cho) took to the roads to investigate Ko Nyi Nyis work accident. Ko Nyi Nyi informed us since when we met him at the hospital that his work accident took place at a construction site at the Chaweng Blue Lagoon Hotel (bluelagoonhotel). He and his friends wrote the name of the site on some paper as on the photo. On arrival at the Blue Lagoon Chaweng hotel, the lone receptionist told me no one was in charge of the hotel, he had no phone numbers of anyone in charge, he only just arrived to work at the hotel and he knew nothing about anything actually. A walk through the luxury hotel in early evening (reception to pool to beach front to restaurant) revealed no customers and no staff. Eerily quiet. Finally I found one restaurant staff member who confirmed there was a construction project at the hotel on the other side of the Chaweng Road (the hotel is both sides of the road) but she knew nothing about it. After walking back through reception and crossing the road, finally managed to locate the entrance to a construction project but couldnt gain access as no access was allowed to the public. But the security guard on duty at the entrance barrier confirmed me that there was a large construction project underway behind the gate and he pointed to the site entrance sign apparently written in Burmese or other migrant languages. I asked if there was a construction company or subcontractor involved here but he said he understood the hotel owner organised the project directly. Some Myanmar workers were coming out of the barriers on a motorbike so we stopped them and asked about Ko Nyi Nyis case. They confirmed they had heard of a migrant worker workplace accident at the hotel construction site but didnt know who was injured. So this morning we then submitted Ko Nyi Nyis case to Koh Samui Social Security Office after visiting Zaw Lin and Wei Phyo (Koh Tao case defendants) in Koh Samui prison. Despite arriving at lunchtime, the head of the office and all staff were exceptionally helpful in accepting the case. Ko Nyi Nyi signed and fingerprinted the application for work accident assistance and compensation from the SSO. The SSO office rang the Human Resources (HR) department of Chaweng Blue Lagoon immediately and the person dealing with the call apparently was reported to have confirmed an accident had taken place at the hotel construction site, said there was no subcontractor involved BUT then allegedly said the migrant victim had himself walked into the site to visit his friend and was not an employee of the company (Ko Nyi Nyi insists he was interviewed and applied for the construction job at the site on 23rd Oct 14, 2 days before he started working on 25th Oct 14, his first day at work and the day of the accident that caused his permanent disability). The hotel staff said their owner was overseas until 5th January (see below, others also confirmed me the owner was now in Singapore) so they couldnt assist before then. At this point, with help from a few friends on Samui, I was provided the phone number of Peter Bader (made-in.cc/en/site/d61db1b1d5f6685d64415c345305b6a634636449/page/thailand/details.xml), reportedly the Singapore based Swiss owner or managing director of the Blue Lagoon (singapore-forum/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=654). I rang and explained Peter why I was ringing and he told me Its none of your business, mind your own business. I continued on the phone that I just wanted to check briefly if he managed the construction site at Blue Lagoon or had a subcontractor who was responsible. He too said he had no subcontractor. Peter then again told me to mind my own business and abruptly hung up the phone. I then sent Peter an email and his reply is screen grabbed in the picture here. Although he wrote he had no comments, he however went on to make comments to deny all responsibility for the accident case, asked me to get my facts strait, told me to do whatever I wanted with the case before wishing me a Happy New Year with kind regards. The Social Security Office will now proceed to investigate this case and have asked Ko Nyi Nyi to provide witnesses to the accident. The Social Security Office could then prove or disprove the allegations and proceed to issue an order that Ko Nyi Nyi really had a workplace accident and order the employer responsible to pay work accident compensation and other benefits, and Ko Nyi Nyi could then access a SSO rehabilitation center (he is currently completely dependent on his elder brother to move and needs urgently rehabilitation). After a tiring and painful day for Nyi Nyi in our car, we took him back to his friends room, a camp for construction workers. Lifting him from the car and hearing his pain as we moved him, I felt sad that no one perhaps much more wealthy and able than us has so far taken responsibility for his well-being. But during the day we did get 8, 725 baht donated for Nyi Nyi already. That supplements the wheelchair and 4,000 baht MWRN already provided him. We will fight on to ensure justice in this case. For now however, Nyi Nyi remains in an unsuitable surroundings at risk of infectious disease for his wounds and in a lot of pain.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 14:45:56 +0000
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