BackTuesday, 12 December 2017
Safety concerns with O-Bahn tunnel for people with disabilities or mobility issues
Leon Byner: The big bus tunnel was opened on the weekend and a number of people trudged through it and the buses are starting to go through it. I understand that one of the buses hit a boom gate but maybe that’s one of those things that can happen. But my next guest has an issue with the tunnel in terms of those people with disabilities. As I understand it they have written to the Human Rights Commission about this and the Equal Opportunity Commissioner and it boils down to first of all that a lot of the motorised chairs, which are pretty big, that will have people in it, if there is God forbid a situation where that person has to be evacuated, the bus driver is going to have to try and lift them or help them and that’s been controversial in itself because when you talk to oc health specialists about lifting dead weights there’s a whole range of things that you have to do in order to do it safely. And then of course the rules according to DPTI, oh get one of the public to help you. But will they be indemnified if through trying to do something that’s helpful they actually do something that could injure the person. All these are not unreasonable questions. Let’s talk with Kelly Vincent have you engaged any discussion with Mr Mullighan or DPTI about this and if you have what have they told you?
Kelly Vincent: Interestingly, I did have a meeting scheduled with the Minister last week and that got rescheduled; I’m hoping to have that happen today but I’m yet to have that confirmed. So I am waiting on a meeting with Minister about these issues
Leon Byner: Okay. So why is it that you feel there is a safety problem? Tell us why you believe this
Kelly Vincent: As you and I have discussed previously I’ve been contacted by both people with disabilities and bus drivers who are concerned about the lack of clarity about exactly what the evacuation procedures for people with disabilities, including people who may have a wheelchair or mobility scooter exactly what the procedures are if there is an emergency inside the tunnel. Now I’ve also been contacted by a bus driver who is concerned that there might be some difference between occupational health and safety standards and what they’re being asked to do and that’s why I’ve written to both the Human Rights Commissioner and the Equal Opportunity Commission to help clarify whether there is a problem. And I’ve also received legal advice which at this stage does point to the fact that there may be some inconsistency between occupational health and safety standards and what bus drivers are being asked to do. So for the sake of everyone on board and bus drivers alike we need to make sure that those procedures are clarified and to make sure they are consistent
Leon Byner: So you’re saying you’ve had legal advice that the instructions if there is an event where evacuation is required that have been given to drivers is not in accordance with what the rules should be.
Kelly Vincent: That’s my advice at this stage. And I’ve also had bus drivers tell me that they’ve been told verbally not to discuss this publicly with family or friends or anyone in the community. So the only way we can get that clarity is to have this discussion and to make sure that bus drivers are aware of what is to occur; that isn’t what is happening at this stage. It’s also my understanding that when asked by a journalist whether an electric wheelchair user had been involved in the safety testing, the Minister Stephen Mullighan replied ‘I’m not sure, I wasn’t there.’ Now that’s very concerning. My understanding is that manual wheelchair users were involved but not electric wheelchair users. Again, that is very concerning because electric wheelchairs are much heavier than many wheelchairs and much harder to manoeuvre. And often electric wheelchair users have less mobility in their bodies as well. So we do need these decisions to be clarified and for things to be rectified if need be
Leon Byner: Stay on the line.
Stephen Mullighan, Transport Minister
Leon Byner: We’ve got Minister Mullighan on the line thanks for calling in, I’m glad you’ve done this
Stephen Mullighan: it’s great to have the opportunity finally to respond to some of these criticisms
Leon Byner: Please do. So what do you say to what Kelly is telling us today?
Stephen Mullighan: As we’ve repeatedly advised her office, this tunnel has been designed according to Australian standards to ensure that we do have room to exit people who are disabled or who have mobility issues from the side of a bus if a bus breaks down or isn’t able to complete its journey through the tunnel. We’ve also made it clear both to her office and I’ve made it clear to the media that if there are more serious incidents, there are more serious circumstances, when somebody with a mobility issue or somebody who is disabled needs assistance from the bus then they may need to be assisted. I don’t think that would strike most people as being unusual. If there’s a fire for example or there’s another serious incident, this tunnel is located about 1,200 metres away from the Wakefield Street MFS depot where emergency services can be summoned in very quick time to make sure that assistance can be rendered. So if it’s beyond the capacity of a bus driver to assist somebody out of the side of a bus to evacuate, we’ve got emergency services close at hand. And this is the exact testing that we’ve been doing in the lead-up to the opening of the tunnel on the weekend. We’ve practised having emergency services descend on a busload of passengers. We’ve practised having people in wheelchairs successfully exiting from the side of a bus. This is no different from if a train was to break down between stations, trains being a metre or so higher than the ground, they would need to be given assistance to get out of that train perhaps by emergency services as well. It’s conceivable that that’s beyond the capacity of a train driver. Of course it would also be the case if there was some part of the designated track between Paradise and Klemzig or Klemzig and the Gilberton portal where there aren’t ramps provided or aren’t side paths available for people to exit; that somebody who is disabled or who has got a mobility issue would need assistance getting out of that bus. So this is no different from elsewhere on our public transport network, except that this tunnel has been designed by the professional engineers and designers according to the current contemporary Australian standards for egress of a tunnel in a state of emergency and that’s catered for disabled people as well
Leon Byner: Stay on the line Minister
Back to Kelly Vincent
Leon Byner: Kelly are you happy with that?
Kelly Vincent: I’ve never denied that there has been testing of the way that the tunnel was built does meet certain standards but what I have said from the outset is that bus drivers and disabled people alike have been contacting me saying they’re not clear on what the processes are. I do respect and do acknowledge that testing has occurred but the question is about whether the communication about that training and those processes has been adequate. And that has been my concern and what I’ve said from the outset. I’ve never said anything about there having been no testing or anything like that. My concern is simply around the communication around these processes.
Back to Stephen Mullighan
Leon Byner: So Minister no doubt you’ll be able to have a meeting with Kelly in the next day or two and get this all sorted face to face
Stephen Mullighan: Yes. We did have a meeting scheduled as Kelly said for last Thursday but we were told by one of her staff that in that meeting we would need to respond to a further 15 issues which we said if you want that to occur at that meeting we’re going to have to delay it and seek some further advice on those different matters. But I’ve just got to say and Kelly hasn’t been doing this to her credit, but some people who have been trying to support this issue about the ability for people who are disabled or have got mobility issues to exit this tunnel in the event of an emergency, I’m really concerned that some people are being told that if they are disabled that they shouldn’t use these O-Bahn bus services. I’ve got to say that borders on irresponsible.
Leon Byner: I’ve not heard that but I’m surprised anybody would say that
Stephen Mullighan: Yeah. It’s a remarkable thing to be claiming publicly because what it means is for those people even if they do have some of the Transport Subsidy Scheme vouchers, if they feel they’re now being forced to use those in taxis it’s greatly going to reduce the capacity they’ve got to get out of the house and interact with the est of the community. If that’s the outcome by the campaign that some people are waging, then I think that’s an appalling result and we’ve got to make sure that we clear this up, we give people confidence that regardless of their capacity to be mobile, whether they’re disabled, that this piece of public transport infrastructure, like any other piece of public transport infrastructure, can cater for them and in the event of an emergency we can look after them
Leon Byner: Alright thanks for joining us today. No doubt you’ll contact each other and sort things but it’s good that we may have some sort of resolution)
