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Does swine flu compromise taxi drivers’ occupational safety?
Ministry and State Provincial Office disagree on interpretation of law
“I’m afraid I would not give a ride to a swine flu patient”, says Helsinki taxi driver Sauli Kaplas.
Kaplas sits in his car in the Elielinaukio Square in the Finnish capital.
Potential ride entries appear on the screen of his car’s DDS system at long intervals. The Saturday afternoon seems somewhat sluggish.
Every now and then the system has also flashed announcements of influenza patients looking for a ride.
“I let other drivers to pick up those fares. The risk of infection troubles me.”
“I suspect, in a way, we are a risk group”, the taxi driver says.
“And the law enables us to choose our rides.”
But does it, really?
On Saturday the Finnish edition of Helsingin Sanomat reported on cases in the capital area where taxi drivers had refused to give rides to customers that they suspected may have been ill with the swine flu.
According to Taksi-Data, a corporation of Helsinki taxi owners that relays customers’ orders to cars, the drivers have the right to refuse a fare by referring to occupational safety issues.
Helsingin Sanomat asked the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the State Provincial Office of Southern Finland, and the Finnish Taxi Owners' Federation if this was the case.
“The swine flu is a normal flu, not a generally dangerous infectious disease. Under no circumstances does it warrant a refusal of a ride. The permit to practice as a taxi driver obliges the driver to provide a lift”, thunders Juhani Tervala, the highest-ranking civil servant at the Ministry of Transport and Communication.
“If one takes a narrow view of what the law on taxi service says, then a driver could indeed refuse to provide a ride to an H1N1 influenza patient. It is more of a moral question: Can one leave an ill patient without a lift?” says senior inspector Pasi Hautalahti from the State Provincial Office of Southern Finland.
“So far the Federation has not issued instructions regarding the matter, but I reckon this should be discussed. It seems this is a question of interpretation of the law, of whether the risk of infection could breach the regulations regarding the occupational safety of taxi drivers”, ponders Krister Olsson, President of The Finnish Taxi Owners' Federation.
The taxi drivers themselves are divided into two camps on the H1N1 issue.
“I do not understand drivers who refuse a ride. Our job is to serve all people impartially”, taxi driver Ensio Klemi says critically.
His colleague Heimo Hämäläinen, in turn, says he understands those drivers who may already have other health concerns themselves or who have a family member with weakened health.
Tervala of the Ministry of Transport and Communication urges people to take action if a taxi driver refuses to provide service based on swine flu.
“In such a case one should write down the car’s licence plate number, and contact the State Provincial Office of Southern Finland.
So far the State Provincial Office has not received a single complaint regarding the matter.
“In principle the matter is extremely important”, Tervala says. “The law on occupational safety applies to other fields as well.”
“The society would come to a complete standstill if the shop assistants, bank clerks, bus drivers, teachers, and nurses all refused to work.”
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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