Mental Health, Wellness, and Resilience for Transit System Workers (2024)
Chapter: Glossary
Glossary
Employee assistance program (EAP): Offers employees, and often their immediate family members, a means of quickly connecting with a trained professional to address specific issues affecting their mental health or well-being. The specific resources provided by EAPs vary between transit agencies but may include medical assessments, referrals for counseling, financial literacy classes, grief counseling, smoking cessation programs, or referrals to substance misuse treatment programs.
Frontline transit worker: For the purposes of this report, a frontline transit worker is a transit agency staff person who interacts with the public; this can include operators, station agents, people who work with ticketing machines, fare inspectors, mechanics that may engage with the public while reporting on-site for vehicle or other repairs, customer service representatives, dispatchers, transit police, and other cleaning and maintenance staff.
Health clinic: Offers employees free, convenient access to healthcare. Services may also be offered to employees’ families. Clinics may be on-site, reducing the need for frontline workers to travel off-site to other health facilities to receive care. Services can include annual physicals, sick visits, wellness counseling and support, and other types of counseling and therapy.
Personal protective equipment (PPE): The Occupational Safety and Health Administration defines PPE as equipment worn to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses.
Person under train (PUT) incident: A type of incident in which a person is injured or killed after being hit by a train.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): According to the National Institute of Mental Health, PTSD is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.
Union assistance program (UAP): Offers employees a means of quickly connecting with a trained professional to address issues that affect mental health. Whereas EAPs are provided by a transit worker’s agency, UAPs are provided by the local union. Some UAPs provide other resources, such as training programs or professional coaching.
Wellness program: Provides an opportunity for transit agencies to encourage their employees to engage in habits that promote health and well-being. Programs may include access to wellness coaches, who can provide referrals to nutritionists and exercise guides, or sessions with an on-site counselor.
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