Anything That Helps Expose The Danger
At the request of Barb Kabrick we are posting her comment regarding our project:
“Kara,
Just last night a taxi driver in Norfolk, Virginia called me to report that he was robbed at gunpoint. He was hoping I would be able to somehow alert the local and surrounding cab companies of the incident so that they could be alert in the area. If your plan covers such, I think it is a terrific idea and I am willing to assist you in any way possible.
Anything that will help expose the dangers cab drivers face and/or help make the job safer has my full support. The problem of crimes against taxi drivers will not be adequately addressed as long as the extent of the problem remains unknown. OSHA made a feeble attempt to address the dangers of cabdriving back in 2001 when they developed their “fact sheet” for the taxi industry. I say “feeble” because they greatly underestimated the number of assaults against cab drivers and they excluded the vast majority of cabdrivers from it’s coverage because they are not called “employees”.
OSHA’s paper prompted me to do a survey about violence against cadrivers by interviewing cab drivers themselves across the country. OSHA had gathered their information from police reports and cab companies, never taking into account the fact that most assaults against cab drivers go unreported. My survey revealed that about 75% of the assaults are not reported to the police or the company. And I’m talking about actual physical assaults. I found when I attended the Tri-National Conference on Violence as a Workplace Risk, as a U.S. delegate representing the taxi industry, that other industries and professions count verbal abuse as an assault, so that would skew the results even more!
In 2004, I was a speaker and panelist at NIOSH’s Workplace Violence Conference, again emphasizing the dangers to cabdrivers and the lack of a reporting system. I’m not aware of any real attempts to change or improve working conditions for cab drivers as a result of either conference. Your plan for a reporting system is a great start!
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Barb Kabrick
International Taxi Drivers Safety Council”
A speech Barb delivered at NIOSH Workplace Violence Conference