HELPING maids plan escape routes to run away from their abusive employers' homes, is part of Ms Elizabeth Tan's job.

For maids working under hawk-eyed employers, the best times to make a run are when she is sent to dump rubbish or to buy food.

Most times, Ms Tan is discreet with her help but she has even brazenly waited at the void deck to escort the abused maid to safety.

The Chairperson of the Archdiocesan Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ACMI) and she also mans the organisation's 24-hour helpline.

This year, 24 callers have dialed the ACMI number, complaining of maid abusers.

While nine of these calls came from the suffering maids, the 15 others were from strangers or neighbours and friends of the abused maids.

On the helpline of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), an advocacy group for migrant workers, four in 10 of the calls, are from members of the public.

Some whistle-blowers even send pictures to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Stomp, the interactive portal of The Straits Times, to report on abusers.

Last month, one employer was fined $4,000 after a picture of his maid perched precariously on a 10th-storey ledge, watering plants was sent to the MOM.

'The public does play an important role and they're really starting to make the effort to be whistle-blowers,' said Ms Tan.

But some go further than just tip-off the authorities.

Read the full report in The Sunday Times.