Video showing subway worker possibly asleep being investigated
Posted December 16, 2013 6:50 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The TTC is investigating after a video surfaced of a subway worker with his eyes closed and his head back while a train was in service.
The video was provided exclusively to CityNews by a viewer who wished to remain anonymous but said he shot it on Friday afternoon while on a northbound train on the Yonge line.
TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said it is hard to tell if the operator, who sits at the end of the train and is in control of opening and closing the doors, is sleeping or simply resting his eyes between stops.
TTC union president Bob Kinnear concurred.
“His eyes being closed doesn’t necessarily mean he’s asleep,” said Kinnear. “The reality is his responsibility to ensure that the doors open at the appropriate time and looking at the video – it appears that he does that.”
Kinnear said, “Obviously we would prefer if operators were alert to what’s going on.”
But he said, “The reality is that when you’re in dark tunnels for nine to 10 hours a day, I think that it would be difficult to restrict operators from sitting back and closing their eyes.”
Ross said there were no driving controls were active in the end section where the operator was sitting so no passengers were in danger while the train was in motion.
“The train is being driven by the operator at the front, the lead car,” he explained. “This is the trailing car. It is not engaged with respect to propulsion or breaking.”
Ross said the investigation will look into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
“While policies can be black and white, circumstances are not and that’s why we need to review this carefully with the employee,” he said.
This is not the first time the TTC has been under fire for an employee appearing to be asleep on the job. In 2010 a photo of a ticket collector asleep in the booth garnered thousands of comments on social network. An investigation determined the employee had a medical condition and his medication may have contributed to his falling asleep at work.
