1st Anniversary of the OAG. "Labor Rights Advocate" Reveals progress and obstacles in compensation efforts as the state values documents over human lives, causing victims to lose hope before achieving justice.
On 28 March 2026 GMT+7, marking the first anniversary of the OAG building collapse caused by the Myanmar earthquake, which claimed 93 workers’ lives with 3 still missing. The 30-story building, constructed with a budget of 2 billion baht, collapsed instantly, an event incomparable to the lost trust and the hundreds of lives that will never return.
Over the past year, although the story has gradually faded from the media, the process of tracking and compensating victims continues. Legal complexities, documentation hurdles, and barriers of ethnicity and language have caused many victim families to give up, despite not having received justice.
Worachai Sanansuk, legal scholar and migrant labor expert at the Rakthai Foundation. The non-profit civil society organization that has assisted affected workers from the incident until now revealed the process and challenges in aiding victims over the past year. Immediately after the incident, they assisted by visiting the site with foreign officials to facilitate language coordination, collect data on the victims’ needs, and design ways to support victims and their families.
An initial problem was the inability to identify the victims. There was no information on how many workers were on site or which employers were involved with the employees present, causing difficulties in coordinating with the victims’ home country embassies on how to contact their families.
The foundation initially provided emergency cash assistance of 10,000 baht per person and survival kits, but the amount was insufficient.
Later, the foundation worked with the Migrant Workers Group (MWG), a civil society network caring for migrant workers in Thailand, to clarify legal rights for these workers and help victims obtain rights from the Ministry of Labor or related government agencies. However, they faced obstacles that hindered smooth compensation processes.
Worachai explained that a major problem encountered is the definition of the legal relationship between employee and employer. This is because the OAG building involved multiple contractors. Sub-Contracting, where the main contractor hires smaller subcontractors repeatedly, making it impossible to clearly identify the employers and workers involved.
Worachai disclosed that in subcontracting cases found, employment was passed through 3-4 layers. The issue lies with small subcontractors who did not report changes in employer-employee relationships. These subcontractors usually hired workers previously employed and temporarily suspended from other sites to work at the OAG building without written contracts or registration with the Department of Employment. This made it impossible to prove the actual employer-employee relationship.
"Another problem isforeign workers cannot register more than one employer in the system, so unemployed workers or those whose contracts ended without a new contract who took on work at the OAG building as supplementary work and were present during the collapse had no documents, rendering them undocumented. Although they worked at the building, when the accident occurred, their identities became unknown."
Worachai pointed out that the Social Security Office should play the most important role in compensating victims underthe Workmen’s Compensation ActB.E. 2537 (1994).But due to documentation issues and interpretations of employer-employee definitions, many are excluded from these rights, especially subcontracted workers.
"This is a significant issue in governmental interpretation, focusing on documents rather than protecting or compensating victims. For example, the Social Security Office interprets that because employees and employers were not registered with the Department of Employment, these workers are not protected underthe Workmen’s Compensation Act."
In their interpretation, the Social Security Office issued circulars asking the Department of Employment, taking almost a year. The Social Security Office views unregistered employees and employers as not insured. They are considered employees outside the compensation fund and issue orders for employers to pay compensation. If the employer has sufficient capacity, they can pay directly without issues.However, if they refuse, the employee must sue in court themselves, while the Social Security Office remains neutral.Worachai further revealed that litigation involves complex and lengthy paperwork. Myanmar workers must obtain passports and visas to travel to Thailand, translate documents from Burmese to English for embassy certification, then translate to Thai for official documents proving legal heirship. They must hire lawyers, await court acceptance and enforcement, incurring high costs and psychological trauma, leading many to abandon the process.
"Many feel the incident is a psychological wound and choose to accept whatever compensation they receive and not speak further or seek help. Some return to their home countries to live normally, avoiding further involvement."
Psychological trauma: an intangible wound
"We prioritize documents over protecting or compensating all victims. Survivors who are physically healthy can resume work the next day because no one certifies psychological trauma as a work injury."
Additionally, among surviving workers who became
"undocumented persons" due to subcontracting issues, many moved to work in other provinces after recovery, leaving the original environment. Yet, psychological trauma from the OAG building collapse continues to haunt them, impairing their work performance. Worachai shared that workers with psychological trauma experience fear during similar events, like loud noises. Some cannot work at heights anymore. They suffer both mental wounds and job insecurity. Employers view them as less capable, possibly reducing wages and work hours, directly harming workers’ economic security.
Moreover, when relocated, government agencies cannot verify that these workers previously worked at the OAG construction site, affecting their entitlement to subsequent compensation.
Progress in compensation
Compensation from related private companies is a humanitarian matter to compensate victims impacted by their business activities. Initial payments came from project contractors, Italian-Thai Development and China Railway, for cases proven to be subcontracted, with evidence linking them.
Government agencies slow due to deference to the OAG?
many agencies hesitate to issue documents.Worachai sees this as a possible issue, observing irregularities where government agencies communicate directly yet,regarding the definition of
"the legal relationship between employee and employer," different agencies under the Ministry of Labor interpret it inconsistently, even though they are under the same ministry and minister. Instead of direct contact, they use "circular letters," causing delays. "Between the Social Security Office and the Department of Employment, circulars were exchanged back and forth, taking nearly a year to agree on the employee-employer definition. We see this as an abnormality possibly linked to being monitored."
Government agencies should "protect people" rather than just be "document examiners"
"sweat equity." Any employee suffering a work-related accident, Thai or foreign, should be immediately protected by government agencies without waiting to prove how long they have been insured, whether there is a contract, or the exact legal employer-employee relationship. The Social Security Office or relevant agencies should advance compensation payments first, otherwise economic insecurity, rising wages, labor shortages, and perceptions of unsafe work will persist. "When workers suffer work-related incidents, they expect care from government agencies, including medical costs, leave, loss of income, and compensation for disability or death. I believe government agencies should transform from document examiners back into rights protectors for people."