Post: ambulance drive cams

Posted by jerry on 9/23/08

My company recently installed drive cams in all of our
ambulances. The company, located in central Pennsylvania,
specifically insisted that the installation of the cameras
was not Big Brother and that it would active only when an
instance occured. They defined an instance as an accident,
hard braking, or hard cornering. It has become obvious
that the company is using the drivecam to monitor
employees and seek disciplinary action against employees
without the drive cam activating according to the
companies definition. The drive cam also records audio. Is
there a violation of privacy as the company is using the
drivecams for purposes other than what was described to
employees? Also, the interior camera can capture pictures
of the patient compartment area with audio and patients
are not made aware that they may be monitored. With the
possibility of being in the ambulance for an entire 12
hours shift and often working with the same partner, there
is a good chance of private conversations taking place in
the front compartment and it has become obvious that
management may be monitoring these conversations. The
front compartment of the ambulance may be considered a
crew lounge as this may be the location you eat lunch and
decompress as a crew may never have the opportunity to go
anywhere else than the front compartment if they run alot
of calls? I feel I have no privacy for an entire 12 hours
as any cell phone call to my wife or private information
with my partner may be unknowingly shared with management
personnel.

Posts on this thread, including this one

ambulance drive cams, 9/23/08, by jerry.

Re: ambulance drive cams, 9/23/08, by --.