Stay Away From Blind Spots
Female airport staff 'fearful'
AoT: Sexual assault reports unfounded
Source: Bangkok Post, Saturday November 18, 2006
Written by AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK & ONNUCHA HUTASINGH
Female staff at Suvarnabhumi airport are working in a climate of fear as airport officials are turning a deaf ear to their complaints about inadequate safety measures at night. A woman ground staff member of Thai Airways International recalled being followed by men to the women's toilet area one night after her night shift had ended.
The toilet is on the sixth floor of the airport car park building. Emerging from the restroom, she was told by her husband that he had managed to get her out of harm's way.
''My husband told me that he had seen two men walking behind me to the toilet. Just to make sure that I would be safe, he left the car and followed them. That scared them away,'' said the woman.
Another female THAI employee said she was given lascivious looks on many occasions by construction workers in concourse C.
''Will it be possible to control access of staff, especially construction workers? This is an international airport and public safety should be the top concern. Imagine, even staff members feel unsafe in this place,'' she said.
Other female employees at the airport, including those working at the King Power duty-free shops, are also saying the same thing, she said.
They have lodged many complaints with the Airports of Thailand, demanding better safety measures. But the airport executives are doing nothing to bring improvements in this area, she said.
''We were just advised not to walk alone. We already go in groups. What we want to know is whether anything is being done to make the place more safer and reduce our fears,'' she said.
The airport is open all night with staff working in shifts to serve passengers. But most travellers are gone from the airport after flights bound for European cities take off around 1am.
It is this period between 1am and 3am that the female workers are most worried about.
Like any airline and duty-free shop officials, female cleaners also said that access to both male and female toilets in some locations was hard for guards to watch because the toilets were in security blind spots and facing the walls of concourses. They said no guard has ever been seen patrolling the toilet areas at night.
One cleaner said she was the only one in charge of the toilets in the whole area and now she had enlisted help from a fellow cleaner and they watch each other's backs.
Another female cleaner said rumours about sexual assaults were going around at the airport and victims were said to be employees of all levels. Although the rumours could not be confirmed, they have certainly scared the staff.
The corridor between gates 5 and 9 of the concourse C is identified as an unsafe area because there are stairs leading down to the basement, they said.
''I always pray when I'm working there because if I am in danger, no one will come to my help,'' said the cleaner.
Thousands of construction workers work each day in the passenger terminal and the concourses. Apart from construction of the subway link, they are also repairing floor tiles and power systems and decorating shops.
Reports about sexual assaults have also prompted the THAI labour union to complain about inadequate safety measures inside the airport to the firm.
Acting union leader Somsak Srinuan said that he has evidence that some of the union's female members were sexually harassed. Staff morale hit rock bottom after AoT executives dismissed the complaints as plain rumours, he said.
Reports about sexual and criminal assaults in the media in recent days prompted the AoT to arrange a press tour at the airport yesterday, where the AoT again insisted that the workers' fears were unfounded.
Passakorn Surapipit, airport deputy director for operations, admitted passages in some concourses were poorly lit and guarded insufficiently. He has ordered improvements, including more guards and surveillance cameras.
Although he had heard of rumours about sexual assaults at the airport, he said he had not seen anyone showing up to file a complaint.
http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/18Nov2006_news05.php
AoT: Sexual assault reports unfounded
Source: Bangkok Post, Saturday November 18, 2006
Written by AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK & ONNUCHA HUTASINGH
Female staff at Suvarnabhumi airport are working in a climate of fear as airport officials are turning a deaf ear to their complaints about inadequate safety measures at night. A woman ground staff member of Thai Airways International recalled being followed by men to the women's toilet area one night after her night shift had ended.
The toilet is on the sixth floor of the airport car park building. Emerging from the restroom, she was told by her husband that he had managed to get her out of harm's way.
''My husband told me that he had seen two men walking behind me to the toilet. Just to make sure that I would be safe, he left the car and followed them. That scared them away,'' said the woman.
Another female THAI employee said she was given lascivious looks on many occasions by construction workers in concourse C.
''Will it be possible to control access of staff, especially construction workers? This is an international airport and public safety should be the top concern. Imagine, even staff members feel unsafe in this place,'' she said.
Other female employees at the airport, including those working at the King Power duty-free shops, are also saying the same thing, she said.
They have lodged many complaints with the Airports of Thailand, demanding better safety measures. But the airport executives are doing nothing to bring improvements in this area, she said.
''We were just advised not to walk alone. We already go in groups. What we want to know is whether anything is being done to make the place more safer and reduce our fears,'' she said.
The airport is open all night with staff working in shifts to serve passengers. But most travellers are gone from the airport after flights bound for European cities take off around 1am.
It is this period between 1am and 3am that the female workers are most worried about.
Like any airline and duty-free shop officials, female cleaners also said that access to both male and female toilets in some locations was hard for guards to watch because the toilets were in security blind spots and facing the walls of concourses. They said no guard has ever been seen patrolling the toilet areas at night.
One cleaner said she was the only one in charge of the toilets in the whole area and now she had enlisted help from a fellow cleaner and they watch each other's backs.
Another female cleaner said rumours about sexual assaults were going around at the airport and victims were said to be employees of all levels. Although the rumours could not be confirmed, they have certainly scared the staff.
The corridor between gates 5 and 9 of the concourse C is identified as an unsafe area because there are stairs leading down to the basement, they said.
''I always pray when I'm working there because if I am in danger, no one will come to my help,'' said the cleaner.
Thousands of construction workers work each day in the passenger terminal and the concourses. Apart from construction of the subway link, they are also repairing floor tiles and power systems and decorating shops.
Reports about sexual assaults have also prompted the THAI labour union to complain about inadequate safety measures inside the airport to the firm.
Acting union leader Somsak Srinuan said that he has evidence that some of the union's female members were sexually harassed. Staff morale hit rock bottom after AoT executives dismissed the complaints as plain rumours, he said.
Reports about sexual and criminal assaults in the media in recent days prompted the AoT to arrange a press tour at the airport yesterday, where the AoT again insisted that the workers' fears were unfounded.
Passakorn Surapipit, airport deputy director for operations, admitted passages in some concourses were poorly lit and guarded insufficiently. He has ordered improvements, including more guards and surveillance cameras.
Although he had heard of rumours about sexual assaults at the airport, he said he had not seen anyone showing up to file a complaint.
http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/18Nov2006_news05.php
posted by jan at 11/18/2006 03:22:00 PM
1 Comments:
Actually it is even worse, some female staffs were raped and killed, but noone is working on this problem. The AOT has been trying to hide these crimes. They protect only the airport but not people who are working there. I am working in this airport, my colleagues and I work with fears and everyday we have the same problems which never be fixed. It seems like people who established and managed the airport dont have any idea or experience about the airlines and airport. They dont know what things should be, they even make things worse....Nothing is working in this airport....New printers are not working well, new elevators and escalators are being fixed almost everyday, the passengers terminal is sometimes too cold or too hot, the boarding gates are just too dark for passengers to sit and wait, and for staffs to work there. Someone asked me what’s good about the new airport, I was thinking about it and then I just couldn’t think of the answer!!
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