TTC POLICY TO ADDRESS USE OF DRUGS, ALCOHOL

'Fitness For Duty'

Revelations of drug use by a maintenance worker killed on the job and
the recent firing of a bus driver for being drunk at the wheel have
highlighted the necessity of an exhaustive safety overhaul at the
Toronto Transit Commission, officials said yesterday.

TTC chairman Adam Giambrone said a "fitness for duty" policy will be
unveiled by summer's end. He predicted it will create a shift in
culture toward safety on the same scale as one that occurred when the
commission put a priority on vehicle maintenance after a 1995 accident.

Mr. Giambrone said the safety review was initially prompted by the
carbon-monoxide poisoning of workers conducting maintenance in a
tunnel and thus was already underway when Tony Almeida was killed in
a work-car crash in April, 2007.

But the discovery during the investigation that Mr. Almeida had
smoked marijuana during his fatal shift -- and had been disciplined
for on-the-job drug use-- raised the issue of mandatory drug testing
as part of the TTC's planned fitness policy, even if impairment was
not deemed a cause of the accident.

Mr. Giambrone said yesterday that drug and alcohol use on the job is
"not rampant," but that it is enough of a concern to warrant a full review.

"Is it a one-person problem? No, it's more than one person," Mr.
Giambrone said. But he declined to disclose how many employees have
been disciplined for using drugs or alcohol at work, saying those
numbers are still being crunched.

The final accident report said the autopsy found Tetrahydrocannabinol
- -- a by-product of smoking marijuana-- in Mr. Almeida's system. "The
level of THC indicated that the drug was consumed during the April
22/23, 2007 shift," the report said.

The investigation did not conclude, however, that his impairment
played a role in his death. Instead, human error -- when a work-car
platform was inadvertently left extended -- was deemed to have been the cause.

"We're not putting any blame on Tony's accident as a causal factor,"
said Gary Webster, general manager of the TTC. "We cannot sit here
today and say if Tony wasn't impaired, this wouldn't have happened."

The crash of the flatbed work car on the Yonge subway line was caused
when a retractable platform that workers stand on in tunnels to
remove asbestos was left extended as the car was returning to the
shop after a night's work.

In fact, four of the eight platforms were left extended to some
degree, but the one nearest the decommissioned subway locomotive
pushing the flatbed protruded the furthest, rubbing against the
tunnel wall before hitting a cinder block, ripping off the work bench
and sending it flying into the control booth of the train.

Mr. Almeida, who was driving the train, was killed instantly while
two other workers were seriously hurt.

The TTC pleaded guilty to violations of the Occupational Health and
Safety Act and was fined $200,000 plus a 25% victim surcharge.