As if you needed another excuse to hate on Comcast, a video of two Comcast workers causing traffic issues on an icy road sparked fury on Reddit Tuesday night.
In the clip, an employee for Comcast Xfinity is working next to his truck at the base of a small hill in Indianapolis, Indiana. There’s a light dusting of snow on the ground and more is falling, which has turned the road into a slippery mess.
A concerned onlooker, Daniel, who requested Mashable not release his last name, asked the Comcast workers to be more conscious of those around them as their truck’s location and minimal cones were not giving drivers ample notice. Vehicles started to run off the road as a result and Daniel busted out his camera to capture the scene.
“Want to put your truck in the driveway or something cause people are sliding off down there,” the man said.
“No I really don’t,” the worker responds. “I need as much stuff to keep people out of the way so I don’t get hit.”
Daniel then asks if the driver has any more cones to put out further up the hill so that drivers are aware of a hazard ahead. The worker has more cones on his truck, but does not put them out.
The video documents several more cars sliding out, and Daniel almost gets hit at one point. Eventually, Daniel gets his own cones out.
Then another Comcast truck pulls up and the worker who just arrived tries to claim that they are not at fault, explaining they need to have one cone per 10 mile speed limit. Daniel explains to Mashable that the first worker left the area, and was replaced by the second worker.
“Maybe somebody shouldn’t be flying through here. I gotta go fix stuff,” the second employee says before taking off and pulling up exactly where the first vehicle was parked.
Immediately after trying to convince the worker that the situation is dangerous, a truck comes barreling down the road and rear ends another vehicle that’s slowing down to avoid the road workers.
Even after the accident, the Comcast worker can’t be bothered to put out some more cones at the top of the hill.
EdMarchetti, SVP of Technical Operations at Comcast released the following statement to Mashable.
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 everyones safety a priority in everything we do.
And just as important, theres no place for disrespect – treating people the right way is the only way to work.
Comcast did not comment on their cone policy, and whether it changed during inclement weather. But as someone on Reddit points out, the cones are too close and do not appear to be compliant with OSHA’s guidelines on a lane closure like this.
Image: osha
In an interview with Mashable, Daniel says that he didn’t think the video would go viral and wasn’t expecting the traction that it received.
“I didn’t know it would get anything at all. That was an unbelievable ride last night,” Daniel said in reference to the attention the video got on Reddit.
Daniel explained that at one point, his wife was almost struck by a car while she was bringing hot cocoa out to some stranded motorists.
“I wasn’t out to create a dramatic video, Daniel said, adding, “We were trying to take care of anyone in the situation.”
