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May 11, 2009

Comments

Rick Ellis

It is a scandal that there is no accountability when transporters do not believe in training to enhance safety.
It is all about fat profits for the directors and senior staff members.

During the KBR Rio project in 2004, drivers burnt to death in their cabs close to Basra in a multi tailgating incident due to the fact that at that time the transporters in Kuwait did not have driver training facilities.

KGL only started professional driver selection and the training of drivers in 2005 following concerns of increasing accidents. Prior to this drivers were recruited by the HR Manager and Transport Administrators all of which could not even drive articulated vehicles themselves and would not know a driver if one smacked them in the face. The recruits then arrived in Kuwait and were given minimum training and sent on mission

Because most projects were managed by Asians the project managers preferred Asian drivers, because they were subservient and did as they were told. Any one who was not subservient was seen as a trouble maker.

Even the manpower suppliers had no transportation experience and the choice of manpower supplier was based upon favors for the recruiting team. If the manpower supplier did not continually put his hand in his pocket, he was seen to be a poor supplier.

All of the Flights, Hotels, Food the perks for the recruiting team were eventually to the cost of the driver who had to pay the agent (slave trader) between 1600 and 2000 USD to come to Kuwait for a base salary of approximately 240 USD.

Bryan Rahija

Howdy Rick,

Thank you for the comment. Let us know if you come across any specific cases where this has been reported!

Rick Ellis

Many transport companies in Kuwait still continue to search the world for the cheapest possible people to drive their trucks so that their profits can be maximised. In many cases the people recruited are from rural area's of the worlds poorest countries and often have learning difficulties. In most cases they have never driven anything more powerful than an agricultural tractor. Whilst in some cases training is given on arrival Kuwait,it is the minimum. These recruits are then sent on Military convoys with zero experience, which often results in the death of the drivers and others.

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