ATU's Larry Hanley -- in responding to the deaths of three utility workers recently killed on the job in Key Largo, Florida -- severely condemned the serious lack of a culture of safety that continues to threaten front line workers all across North America.
The three died from breathing lethal gasses while trying to locate the underground source of noxious fumes in a residential neighborhood in Key Largo.
Hanley noted that “this is the kind of little noticed event that frontline workers in all industries encounter daily in their jobs – but is usually accorded only scant attention in the media.
”Hanley and the members of his union extend their deepest sympathies to the families of those who were killed, and express their respect and admiration for the willingness of these heroes to take the initiative to investigate what turned out to be a dangerous public hazard.
Hanley’s ATU members themselves are the frontline workers for D.C. Metro, where they have suffered ten fatalities in the past few years. He says that it is time that workers in all industries are protected from serious injury or death to the maximum degree possible.
Millions of frontline workers throughout America will recognize this as a situation that is familiar to them.
“It’s high time for the media to bring to the public’s attention the risks – and the courage – of everyday frontline workers, whether in health care, public safety, construction, agriculture, transit or many other fields involving potentially hazardous work,” said Hanley.
“That is what we are trying to do in the Washington area in trying to alert the public to the serious dangers that can affect workers – as well as, in this case, the riders -- when a casual attitude toward worker safely exists.”
Hanley was among many in the D.C. community who recently condemned the statement of Metro’s General Manager Paul Wiedefeld, who in defending the lack of a safety culture in the management of D.C.'s Metro system, remarked, 'We have incidents that occur on a fairly regular basis, and that’s the nature of the business.'
Hanley responded that “every frontline worker in America who faces serious threats to their health and safety on a daily basis would understand why such a statement is so outrageous and why it is so important for responsible leaders to stand up and condemn such flippant statements about the lives of frontline workers."
Hanley said honoring and remembering the courageous and public-spirited utility workers in Key Largo represents only part of what will be a continuing effort to recognize the basic decency and basic courage of frontline workers -- and the importance of worker safety -- in whatever field they work.