He advocated looking into intangibles such as work fatigue, work hours, impact of shift work and overwhelming workload. Well said, and I believe this will be covered by the internal audit that must surely be going on following Mas Selamat Kastari's escape.
However, I would like to recount a recent incident I witnessed at the Causeway immigration checkpoint on June 23, the same day the passport slip-up occurred at the Budget Terminal.
My husband and I were in our car in Lane 23 at about 1.25pm when we noticed the security officer who was supposed to be checking vehicles not only had earphones on, obviously listening to music or whatever, but was also busy texting away on his cellphone.
Needless to say, some cars got away without having their boots checked and those he did check were the ones whose drivers had stopped and opened their boot, without being told to do so. All this while, he was glued to his earphones and cellphone.
Had he worked unduly long hours before that? I don't think so because, before we noticed his behaviour, we saw some movements in his lane, after which two officers walked away. Perhaps he had just reported for duty.
Teo Guat Im (Mdm)
