TTC staff feeling pressure of front-line work

Mental-health challenges highlighted after worker survives jump on tracks

TTC employees were left reeling last week after a bus driver jumped onto the subway tracks at Lawrence West station in an apparent attempt at self-harm.

The veteran operator wasn’t seriously injured, but the incident has shaken employees who say they were already feeling the pressure of having to perform a front-line job during the pandemic.

The TTC declined to answer questions about the incident. But sources with knowledge of the episode said it occurred around 2 p.m. on Wednesday at Lawrence West, near the TTC’S Wilson Division in North York. The woman reportedly made it onto the tracks, but power at the station was cut before a train could hit her. She was taken to hospital and is recovering.

Whether the circumstances that led to the incident are related to the driver’s job isn’t clear. Mental-health experts say the motives behind suicide attempts are complex and caution against attributing them to one specific cause.

But as word of the troubling episode has spread among TTC employees, it has left many contemplating the mental-health challenges that come with their work.

Grace Udoh, a TTC bus driver who has worked at the agency for more than 15 years, said she doesn’t know the operator involved, but she cried when she heard the news. She said everyone who works at the transit agency is aware of the trauma suffered by subway workers, who witness suicides on the system, and for a TTC employee to put herself on the tracks indicates the depths of the distress she must have felt.

“You know that it exists. You know that it’s happening, but when now it’s your own employee, the person wearing the same uniform as you, it hits a bit different,” Udoh said. “People are shocked.”

She said that since the incident, her colleagues have been encouraging one another to “tune into your mental health.”

“We do deal with a lot of stress and pressure from a lot of different angles, and the pandemic is definitely not helping,” she said.

That sentiment was echoed in a statement online that has been circulating in TTC worker forums in recent days and was shared with the Star. Attributed to the “Wilson Division Family,” the message notes that the cause of Wednesday’s incident can’t be known, “but one thing (that) is certain is that, in this past year, we have all dealt with mental exhaustion stemming from COVID-19; lockdowns, safety controls and the fact that, as an essential service, we continue through all this to wake up every day and come to work to proudly serve the city.”

At the best of times, driving for the TTC can be a mentally taxing job. Operators work irregular shifts, perform repetitive tasks, and are vulnerable to harassment and assault.

The pandemic has added the fear of possibly contracting the virus from one of the thousands of people who continue to ride transit during the crisis. Some workers also dealt with the stress of being temporarily laid off last year after ridership plunged. More than 400 TTC employees have tested positive for COVID-19, out of a workforce of about 16,000. One worker has died. The TTC says most cases were contracted outside the workplace.

Any COVID-19-related stress felt by transit workers reflects the mental-health toll the pandemic is taking on the wider community. In December, the Canadian Mental Health Association reported that 10 per cent of Canadians said they had recently experienced thoughts of suicide, an increase from six per cent last Spring and from 2.5 per cent before the pandemic.

Suicide attempts on the TTC subway system were also up last year, despite there being fewer riders on the system.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, which represents most TTC workers, has accused the transit agency of being resistant to implementing measures its says would put employees’ minds at ease during the pandemic. As the second wave of COVID-19 grips the city, the TTC has resisted calls to re-implement measures put in place last Spring, during the first wave, such as restricting the boarding of buses to their rear doors.

“On top of (workers’) fear of contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to their families, the TTC is adding stress by refusing to take workers’ health and safety seriously,” Local 113 president Carlos Santos said in a statement.

“The levels of stress and anxiety at the TTC have reached a breaking point.”

He called on the agency to “better support its workers by listening to them, rather than dismissing their valid health and safety concerns.”

TTC spokespserson Stuart Green said the health and safety of employees and riders is the agency’s “top priority at all times.” He said the agency has “a wide range” of mental-health supports available to workers, and the TTC has enhanced them during the pandemic.

Its employee-and-family assistance program offers resources on everything from stress to family problems, and its peer support program designed to help workers who have experienced acute trauma on the job, has been recognized as a leader in its field. The agency is also in the midst of a COVID-19 mental-health campaign.

The TTC says it has implemented effective policies to keep employees safe during the COVID-19 crisis, including stepping up vehicle cleaning, making masks mandatory on the system, and deploying more service on busy routes to minimize crowding. Experts say that mental-health challenges can be treated and the vast majority of people who think about suicide don’t kill themselves.

If you are thinking of suicide or know someone who is, there is help. Resources are available online at crisisservicescanada.ca or you can connect to the national suicide prevention helpline at 1-833-456-4566, or the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868.