The union that represents most TTC workers says it will meet with management soon to discuss a recent study that raised alarm over the air quality in Toronto’s subway system.
ATU Local 113 says it will meet with TTC management “to discuss concerns that TTC subway workers are exposed to potentially hazardous pollution in the subway system.”
The meeting was originally scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, but a union official said Tuesday afternoon that the meeting had been postponed to a yet-to-be determined later date.
A study conducted in 2010 and 2011 by Health Canada, the University of Toronto and McGill University found that the average amount of particulate matter in Toronto’s subway tunnels and platforms is equivalent to the air quality of smog-prone Beijing on an average day.
According to the study, the concentration of fine particulate matter in the Toronto subway system was about ten times higher than what a person would experience out on the street in Toronto.
One day after the report was released, on April 26, three TTC workers were sent home from work for reporting to work wearing masks, in what one of them said was in response to the findings of the study.
The TTC said the workers were sent home because masks are “unnecessary” in underground areas of the system.
A memo sent to employees by the TTC’s chief safety officer said the air quality study was conducted prior to the introduction of new trains on Line 1, which contain newer HVAC systems.
The TTC also says more air quality measures will be introduced sometime this summer.
