Comcast is investigating after a YouTube user posted video of drivers sliding off an icy Indianapolis road that was partially-blocked by a repair truck Tuesday.
The video, taken on Indianapolis’ west side, according to WXIN-TV, was seen nearly 130,000 times in the 20 hours after YouTube user Amish Hacker posted it. The clip also ended up on Reddit’s front page, where it has more than 10,500 comments.
The poor visibility and snowfall made it difficult for drivers to get around, and there were several crashes reported on area roads and interstates.
The problems started with a Comcast cable box that needed repairs after a vehicle slid off the road and hit it, according to the video description. A Comcast truck arrived to make repairs to the box and parked in the right lane. The repairman placed cones behind the truck.
However, the icy stretch of road lies just past the crest of a hill and the cones were placed on the blind side of the slope, directly behind the repair truck. The man recording the video asked a worker if he wanted to place more cones further behind the truck so drivers had more warning.
“Nope, I really don’t,” the worker responded. “I needs as much stuff to keep people out of the way so I don’t get hit.”
The worker finally said he had a couple more cones, but never put them out, according to the person filming. While slide-offs and crashes piled up during the 3:40 video, neither that worker nor a second Comcast employee changed the placement of the cones.
From the video description:
He blew me off because he ‘had a job to do.’ Minutes later there was a crash because of the blocked lane. Multiple people were placed in danger. Even after the accident happened in front of them, they continued to work not changing any of their ‘safety’ procedures. They showed ZERO concern for the safety of people before or after the accidents.
Comcast received a slew of comments about the video on Facebook and Twitter, and the company replied with a message saying they were looking into it.
“Thank you for contacting us,” the company’s Twitter account replied to one user. “We’re aware of this issue and are currently working to address.”
Comcast responded to the video with a statement Wednesday from Ed Marchetti, SVP of Technical Operations:
When I watched this video I was very concerned by what I saw. Our employees should always protect people and treat them with respect no matter what the situation. Safety matters most – especially in dangerous weather conditions like this.
We are actively investigating what happened when our technicians were on site to restore services during an outage and we will reach out to those who were impacted by this incident.
Within the next 24-48 hours, my team leaders will meet with our technicians across our company to use this as an example of how important it is to make everyone’s safety a priority in everything we do.
And just as important, there’s no place for disrespect – treating people the right way is the only way to work.