Luas Procedure During Medical Emergencies.

SimonTemplar

I often see delays caused by medical emergencies, and I'm curious why the tram has to stay at the stop until medical assistance arrives even if other LUAS staff are there too such as security and/or ticket inspectors.

Obviously if only the driver is present, he needs to stay. But what value does the driver/tram add by staying with a sick person even if other Luas staff are there too?

BTW, I'm not complaining about such delays, I'm just genuinely curious about why the tram remains at the stop.

GM228

SimonTemplar wrote: »

I often see delays caused by medical emergencies, and I'm curious why the tram has to stay at the stop until medical assistance arrives even if other LUAS staff are there too such as security and/or ticket inspectors.

Obviously if only the driver is present, he needs to stay. But what value does the driver/tram add by staying with a sick person even if other Luas staff are there too?

BTW, I'm not complaining about such delays, I'm just genuinely curious about why the tram remains at the stop.

The tram would only stay put if the emergency is on-board (or the driver is dealing solely with a person at the stop-i.e no other staff to assist). Otherwise the trams will continue as normal, same applies to all modes of transport.

SimonTemplar

There was a medical emergency on a Luas platform today. Luas security was with the man but the tram stayed until an ambulance arrived. That is what prompted my question.

GM228

SimonTemplar wrote: »

There was a medical emergency on a Luas platform today. Luas security was with the man but the tram stayed until an ambulance arrived. That is what prompted my question.

In that situation it's hard to say without knowing all the facts, was the person fully on the platform, partly on the tram, was the driver the first response, a first aider etc.

Perhaps the driver felt it necessary to remain with the person until medical help arrived, other staff may have been around but may not have been medically competent to take over or the driver felt morally bound to stay to be sure the person was OK, the driver may have been a first aider or be sure he/she could pass on vital info to medical crews without the worry of it been screwed up via a 3rd party?

Could be a 101 reasons I suppose.

coylemj

I note that you claim to have seen this 'often' but in the current times it's worth noting that the operator TransDev has accused the Luas drivers of taking excessive toilet breaks as part of the industrial dispute over the current pay demands. Maybe the drivers are using any excuse to come to a stop in order to fcuk up the schedule?

Otherwise, (leaving the conspiracy theory aside)... are you saying that there was a person on the platform who suddenly needed medical assistance and it was the case that the next Luas tram to arrive simply stopped and stayed there for no apparent purpose?

SimonTemplar

Yeah, sorry for the vague "often". Maybe two-three times a month the luas would be delayed and the reason given is the tram further up is dealing with a medical emergency and waiting for the ambulance to arrive. That could be anything I suppose.

The specific incident today was a man walking out of the tram and collapsed on the platform almost the moment he left the tram. Luas security went over to him, and there was a member of the public who seemed to know first aid. I'm not the type to stand around looking at such situations so I walked on.

About 15 minutes later, I got on a tram at the next stop down, and an announcement was made that the line is experiencing delays because the other tram is waiting for an ambulance to arrive.