"High-rise collapse exposed Thai failure to protect laborers it needs for construction" Radio Free Asia, 15 May 2025

…A month after a deadly earthquake triggered the collapse of a high-rise construction site in Bangkok, labor rights groups say the disaster has exposed long-standing flaws in Thailand’s construction sector – particularly its failure to protect the migrant workers who keep it running…

…[Construction] remains one of the country’s most hazardous industries. A 2022 study by the Workmen’s Compensation Fund found that more than 4,500 workers were killed or injured in construction accidents in 2021 alone – over 40% of them in Bangkok…

The Migrant Working Group found that despite legal requirements for documented workers to be enrolled in a social security fund that provides healthcare and accident compensation, many employers fail to register them – leaving workers unprotected when disaster strikes.

Only 59 out of estimated up to 900 migrant workers from S.A. Construction, a company sub-contracted to work on the Bangkok high rise at the time it collapsed, were registered with the social security office, according to the group….

…some workers were unable to receive wages in the immediate aftermath of the collapse…

… four injured workers from S.A. Construction have yet to receive any compensation from the Thai government…

…the families of 11 workers who died in the collapse have also not received support, as their bodies have not yet been recovered…

[The Resource Centre was not able to contact S.A. Construction to invite a response to the allegations; if a response is received in future this page will be updated accordingly]