TTC, City to recognize the second Transit Worker Assault Awareness Day in Toronto

Tomorrow Sat., Dec 17, the TTC and the City of Toronto will recognize the second Transit Worker Assault Awareness Day.

The day was first declared by Mayor John Tory in 2021 and brings attention to the abuse and assault transit workers, including TTC employees, face every day on the job.

“Transit workers are incredibly important frontline workers in our city, and they absolutely deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. They keep our city moving each day and night, and millions of people rely on them,” said Toronto Mayor John Tory. “I am keenly and squarely focused on working with the TTC and our union partners to support workers, to help keep them safe, and to address any threats they face to their mental and physical health and safety at work.”

“Everyone deserves to feel safe at work. This past year, the TTC has taken numerous actions to help support our frontline workers and bring awareness to the violence and challenges that our employees often face,” said TTC Chair Jon Burnside. “However, we recognize that there is still work to be done and we continue to look at solutions to help support our employees.”

“The safety of our employees and our customers is paramount to all that we do. Every day our employees show tremendous dedication and skill to keep Toronto moving – and they deserve to feel safe while doing so,” said TTC CEO Rick Leary. “We all know that violence can quickly lead to devastating consequences. Assaults on our employees are unacceptable, and we will continue to work with all our partners to bring an end to these terrible incidents.”

Last year, in response to an increased number of reported attacks on employees, the TTC developed an action plan to further protect frontline workers. Under the action plan, there have been a number of steps taken, including:

• Conducting more than 6,000 face-to-face safety talks with frontline employees across the organization.
• Expanding the partnership between Streets to Homes and the TTC to five days a week this past October, covering morning and afternoons. Since then, services have been offered 322 times and accepted 77 times.
• Holding over 20 operator engagement sessions at divisions in order to better educate frontline workers on services and supports available.
• Providing conflict avoidance and de-escalation training for employees.

In October 2022, the number of reported offenses against employees was 6.12 per 100 employees. This is 10 per cent lower than the number recorded in October 2021.

The action plan built on previously established safety programs at the TTC, such as video surveillance on all vehicles and in stations, supporting criminal prosecution against those charged with criminal acts against employees through the Court Advocacy Program, and sharing video and photos of attackers with police. The TTC also provides trauma supports to staff through the Employee and Family Assistance Program.

The TTC takes all instances of physical abuse, harassment and threats seriously and continues to work with police to prosecute to the full extent of the law. The TTC works closely with Toronto Police Services on any violent incident that occurs on the transit system, including those against customers.