Health and Safety and Risk -Alien Concepts for Cambodians

There are some extremely high risk activities in Stung Treng which the locals see as part of everyday life such as:

• 28 people crammed into an old minibus with 12 seats (plus boxes chickens furniture etc.)
• 4 very drunk lads going home in the black darkness, on potholed streets, all on the same motorbike
• Children swimming in the Mekong river which is the main sewer never mind the added risk of Bilharzia

Have a look at the following photos and imagine what would happen in England! EU regulations eat your heart out!

Motorbike Safety?

Having survived one of the greatest risks of all,that of being born. you then face a journey home from hospital on the back of a motorbike. Dad is driving in the front with all the luggage including the bed role on his lap. New mum with wool hat on of course is riding side saddle in the middle while grandma is managing to balance on the back with the baby in her arms. They ride away without a care over rough roads full of pot-holes.

Where to start! None of the three have helmets on. The child in the middle has an IVI drip up which  his sister on the back is helpfully holding up. The young woman driving has flip-flops on. Sadly as the roads are improved there is a growing trend for serious motorbike accidents. Mainly young men riding too fast often after drinking beer or whiskey. As they have no helmet and no safety gear they often don't survive. These deaths are reported every Monday morning at the hospital management meeting I attend. It is the law to wear a helmet but everyone says you don't need to bother after 11am as the police will have gone home for the day  - missed the point entirely.

Again a very young child with an IVI drip up which dad has hung up in the tree while the child plays on the slide. It is easy to send a child into heart failure and even death by over infusing him with IV fluids - in Europe its normal to control the rate by using a failsafe drip counter machine which prevents over infusion. Here children are all over town with various drips up running at various uncontrolled rates.

Men at Work?

This is a gem mine. The hole is about half a metre wide and there are foot holes in the sides to help you climb down about 5metres before crawling along horizontally to the gem seam. When you have finished with this hole you just walk away from it and dig another leaving the old one as a trap for unsuspecting folk to fall down.

This is one of our assistants in our office sawing a piece of metal pipe. Note his bare foot and hand  holding the pipe while the hacksaw skids about over the pipe,all balancing on the edge of the desk. The following week, at home,  he drove a screw driver into his hand down to the bones -he then had to get it sutured with no anesthetic as usual.

The two boys driving the Road roller are about 12 years old. The traffic dodges around it while it rolls up and down the road outside the cafe we were at.

Building scaffolding Cambodian style -I wonder if he will put safety end boards and  grab rails around it?

Scary Creatures:

This buffalo and her calf have just been chased out of the hospital again. It seems to be her favourite place and you often meet them roaming along the hospital covered walkways -you need to be very careful not to come between her and her calf -she has rather large horns.

I like to think our house is fairly safe but these two were some of the residents. The  spider is about 12cm across and bites. The scorpion was found in the clothes washing bowl. Chris bravely got rid of both. We also have rats or birds in the roof space and lizards everywhere -kitchen bedroom etc. but they aren't really scary.

Children at play

Depending on your point of view these boys are either just enjoying themselves on a hot day or are risking their lives climbing up a slippy rockface and jumping into a rocky pool at the foot of a waterfall.

Travelling Safely?

This is our bus. The front tire had a complete blowout - see shredded tyre in foreground. But not to worry they soon  fitted the spare which has not even 1mm of tread on it -completely smooth -perfect for the poor roads?

This is the runway and helicopter landing pad. Luckily planes are rare

If you do have an accident you then have to weigh-up whether it's safer to just go home and consult the local medicine man or to admit yourself to the Health Centre above or to be carried on the back of a motorbike for 2hours on a rough road to the hospital- difficult decision.