According to a UNDP 2021 report, an average of 5.4 people die every day from traffic crashes in Cambodia, making it the sixth leading cause of mortality. The impact and burden of road traffic crashes are more acute for low and average-income households, including factory workers.

Currently, Cambodia’s garment and footwear industry employs more than 830,000 workers across 1,200 exporting factories, 80% of whom are under age of 35 and around 80-85% of whom are women. Despite being the bedrock of the USD 13 billion industry, thousands of these workers face increasingly heavy traffic, unsafe and overloaded vehicles, and dangerous road user behaviours in their daily commute to work.

On 21 June, UNRSF convened an information session with partners from ILO, AIP Foundation, and implementing government agencies to discuss the recently approved project on “Improving Commuting Safety in Cambodia”.

The project aims to reduce road crash injuries and fatalities for factory workers and young people by building upon ongoing efforts to scale the implementation of a national policy and procedure framework for factory worker safety.