ANROEV Calls for Urgent Action and Protection of Workers’ Right to Health and Safety in Cambodia

After Fatal Transport Accidents Kill 14 Garment Workers

10 June 2026

The Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims (ANROEV) expresses deep concern over the road accidents that recently claimed the lives of 14 garment workers in Cambodia.

In Kampong Chhnang province, a heavy cargo truck collided with an open-top vehicle transporting workers to their factory, killing nine and injuring 53. In Svay Rieng province, a bus carrying workers overturned, killing five and injuring 35. In total, 14 workers were killed, and 79 were injured. Of the 93 victims, 74 (roughly 80 percent) were women, reflecting the gendered composition of the sector’s workforce.

The transport of garment workers in open-top trucks and flatbed vehicles — lacking seats, safety restraints, or protection from collision — has persisted for decades. In 2014, 73 workers died and 789 were seriously injured during their commute, according to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. In May 2015, a single such accident killed 19 workers and injured 20. In 2024, national road safety data recorded twelve accidents involving worker transport vehicles, resulting in 3 fatalities and 257 injuries. Women accounted for all three deaths and 200 of the injuries.

This practice endangers a workforce of over 1.1 million people across more than 1,800 factories, the backbone of Cambodia’s export economy. It must end.

Road accidents are the leading cause of deaths and injuries in Cambodia, costing approximately USD 466 million per year. In 2025, 2,345 road crashes killed 1,467 people and injured 3,213 others, an average of four deaths per day. Nearly half of all crashes were linked to excessive speed. Workers transported in open, overcrowded vehicles on these roads face known and preventable risks. Continued inaction constitutes a failure of duty of care.

We call on the government of Cambodia, employers, and relevant international bodies to:

1. Mandate safe worker transportation. Enact and enforce binding regulations requiring all employer-arranged transport to use enclosed, seated, road-certified passenger vehicles, with stricter penalties for non-compliance.

2. Hold employers and contractors accountable. Employers who rely on unsafe transport must be legally liable for resulting injury or death. Subcontracting must not be a mechanism for evading this responsibility.

3. Ensure full and urgent compensation. Victims’ families should receive adequate compensation. The 79 injured should have access to medical care and financial support. The National Social Security Fund’s commitment to cover medical costs must be enforced without delay.

4. Recognize commuting accidents as work-related incidents. Injuries and deaths in employer-arranged transport must be classified as occupational, ensuring full access to labor protections and social security entitlements.

5. Conduct transparent, independent investigations. Both accidents should be investigated, including the role of employers, contractors, and regulators, and findings must translate into enforceable policy. 

Women bear the disproportionate cost of these failures. They constitute the majority of the garment workforce, are among its most economically vulnerable members, and account for 80 percent of the victims in these two accidents alone. Any policy response must be designed with this reality explicitly in mind.

Workers should not have to risk their lives simply travelling to earn a living. The right to arrive safely at work and return safely home is a basic, non-negotiable component of occupational health and safety — and we will continue to demand that it be treated as such.

– ANROEV (Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims)