By Sharri Markson
A MAN died when he received no treatment after suffering a heart attack at a railway station because there were no first aid officers on duty.
Four others were injured but went without immediate medical attention because the first aid shifts at Central station were not staffed.
Documents obtained by The Sunday Telegraph reveal Railcorp admitted to fraud in keeping up to 160 jobs vacant to allow staff to to claim tens of thousands of dollars as paid overtime.
The admission was made by CityRail general manager of station operations, Tony Eid, at a hearing in the Industrial Relations Commission last month.
ReplyDeleteRail rosters obtained by The Sunday Telegraph reveal there are days when no employees are rostered on to first aid shifts, nor to CCTV surveillance duties.
On March 31 this year, a man from Finley in southern NSW suffered a heart attack when he disembarked from the 803 country train at Central station.
The man collapsed at 8.07am on the platform – but there was no first aid officer rostered on duty to carry out emergency treatment.
An ambulance arrived at 8.26am, but the man died before arriving at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
The Rail Tram and Bus Union president, Nick Lewocki, said key safety positions of first aid officers were uncovered and were putting the public at risk.
"We've got over 270 vacancies in the metropolitan area and some of these are critical hygiene and security jobs. But there is no one to cover the shifts," he said. "It won't be long before we see a crime epidemic on our stations because CCTV control centres are being left unmanned."
Mr Eid told the IRC there was a practice of deliberately holding jobs vacant to create overtime opportunities for existing employees.
He admitted the practice of creating non-essential overtime was fraudulent and said he had reported it to RailCorp's CEO.
"Yes, I would agree with you that it would amount to fraud, absolutely," he said.
"The overtime is still extremely excessive. We're talking about people on 13 days a fortnight, some cases with 12-hour shifts, so it's excessive."
In another incident on March 27 this year, a woman aged in her early 20s suffered head injuries and concussion after slipping on the concourse at Central. Because there were no employees covering the first aid shift, she received no immediate treatment.
One week later a person suffered a heart attack on a train coming into Central.
Because no first aid officer was available, the ambulance attended the patient on the station's Platform 21.
The Sunday Telegraph