Collapses raise concerns over emergency training
When a bridge and kiosk collapsed into a pond at a Phnom Penh garment factory last month, injuring more than 20 workers, the Prime Minister’s Bodyguard Unit and police rushed to scour the murky water for survivors. Some hours later, those forces remained unsure whether any workers from the Top World garment factory remained unaccounted for. The reason, Phnom Penh municipal police chief Choun Sovann said at the time, was that hundreds of garment workers had defied police orders to return to their stations for a headcount. … John Muller, managing director of Cambodian-based Global Security Solutions, said police and other authorities are hamstrung by a lack of funding, which prevents staff from being properly trained and developing the know-how and technical skills needed to respond appropriately to emergencies. … Steve Morrish, a former senior-detective in Australia and founder and executive director of NGO SISHA, said new police recruits were only getting about 20 to 25 weeks academy training before being sent out to work. The only training many of them received after that, he added, came from NGOs and private security companies like Muller’s. … Even police spokesman Kirt Chantarith admitted police were hampered by budget constraints. But the government has improved training to better respond to emergency situations like the stampede at Koh Pich in 2010, in which more than 300 people were killed, he added. …
