People Power–Would The Safety Monster Approve of This?
Stirling Station, Perth, Western Australia. A man boarding a train slips down the gap (right next to the warning sign!) and gets stuck. While authorities scratched their heads and worked out what to do, people power took over and rescued the man in minutes. Meanwhile….Hazardman was busy spotting slip and trip hazards and unable to respond in time.
A Transperth Passenger Service Assistant (orange fluoro) was right on the spot and took charge of the emergency. First he asked everyone there to move to the one side to try to tilt the carriage from the inside, then he evacuated the train and asked people to push but not rock it. The passengers responded magnificently!!
Then everyone just boarded the train and it continued on its journey. Can you imagine the chaos that would have ensued and the extra suffering if The Safety Monster were let loose and the formal “platform gap entrapment procedures V5.6” were enacted?
Quote from a witness: ‘He seemed to be a bit sheepish, because right where he fell was the ‘mind the gap’ writing,’ he said. ‘They did a really good job, they took control and handled it well. When I first saw it I thought we’d be there for hours.’ he said.
Instead of a public bollocking for fool hardy risk taking, Transperth have apparently praised the quick thinking of staff and commuters and have released the CCTV footage below.
The video shows the entire process but you can Skip to 11min 30sec to see release of the passenger
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