Worker didn't take 'all reasonable steps': Arbitrator
After a snow-plow got away from him on a hill, a public works department worker at the City of Peterborough in Ontario was given a five-day suspension.
Matt Wood began working summers for the city in the arena division in 2013 before he became a full-time employee and was transferred to the public works department.
On July 15, 2013, Wood struck a hydro pole and broke the mirror on the truck he was driving. He was given 10 demerit points as per Peterborough’s vehicle occurrence review and demerit system procedure for what was deemed a “preventable” accident.
On Aug. 11, Wood crashed his truck into another vehicle in a parking lot. He was given another 10 demerit points and a written warning.
Wood's supervisor ordered him to “pay attention to his surroundings” and he was sent to a defensive driving course after his driving privileges with the city were suspended.
Finally, in December, Wood struck a tree limb while driving in another preventable accident.
He was given 10 more demerit points and another written warning.
The culminating incident happened at about 2 a.m. on Feb. 11, 2016, when he drove a plow through a neighborhood, dispensing sand onto the sidewalk. The nine-foot-long vehicle had a blade in the front and a box in the back that held the sand.
Because he was primarily involved in sanding that night, Wood said the plow at the front was in the up position most of the time.
When he left the vehicle to check on the status of the sanding efforts, Wood activated the parking brake.
Wood estimated he had done the same thing 10 to 20 times that evening without incident.
But this time, the plow vehicle travelled downhill and he chased after it. Wood eventually caught up and the vehicle came to rest beside a tree.
Nobody was hurt but the snow-plow suffered extensive damage. An investigation found the parking brake failed.
The total damage was more than $10,000, so Wood was given another 35 demerit points bringing his total to 65.
A chart that detailed what punishment should be meted out based on the number of demerits called for a five-day suspension when an employee reached 55 points and possible termination if the figure was 65 points.
Brian Jobbit, manager of public works, held a meeting with Wood and ultimately decided to impose the suspension.
The union, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 504, grieved the decision and argued Wood followed the city’s training procedures and he shouldn’t have been suspended.
Arbitrator M.G. Mitchnick dismissed the grievance.
“Given Wood’s poor driving record over the short period that he has been operating the city’s vehicles, the level of discipline that Jobbit actually chose to revert to, the risks that the improper securing of such a large vehicle represent to the public at any time of day, and the manner in which the discipline has benefited the grievor in protecting his employment, I am not persuaded to order any adjustments to the penalty ,” said Mitchnick.
The fact that Wood didn’t angle the snow-plow inward or didn’t put the blade in the down position, which might have mitigated the impact, were both common-sense behaviours that should have been done, according to Mitchnick.
“Wood’s decision to stop and park the vehicle for inspection where he did, positioned as it was and at a point where the terrain falls steeply away in a variety of directions, in itself calls in question the amount of thought or judgment that he put into that decision; but apart from that, having made that judgment, it was incumbent upon him to take particular care to take all reasonable steps available to him to provide back up for the parking brake,” said Mitchnick.
Reference: Peterborough (City) and Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 504. M.G. Mitchnick — arbitrator. Vincent Panetta for the employer. Bev Newman for the employee. Aug. 25, 2017.
