Women’s advocates pleased with handling of fire inspector who allegedly sent inappropriate pics

A women’s advocacy agency and a London city councillor are speaking out about the termination of a city fire inspector, who is accused of sending pictures of his genitals to female co-workers.

“Any workplace it’s not appropriate to be sending unsolicited pictures,” said Coun. Elizabeth Peloza. “And any workplace it’s not appropriate to send such pictures even on work supplied equipment.”

Peloza said she was disappointed by the information in a published report, which said the fire inspector, a municipal employee, sent the inappropriate pictures using a city-issued cell phone.

She added that she is glad the issue was reported and dealt with.

“Glad that it’s being brought into the spotlight, that it’s a conversation that the employees thought was okay and safe to bring it forward, which shows our policy of a safe work environment are working, and that we’re having this conversation publicly. It’s not being swept underneath the rug, it’s being dealt with,” she said.

It was not lost on Peloza that fire inspectors deal regularly with the public, including entering homes and businesses in the course of their work.

“I would say generally in any situation you have a publicly facing service it is of concern when you have employees that are acting on your behalf,” she said.

Annalise Trudell, manager of prevention education at ANOVA, a non-profit women’s support group, was pleased those involved came forward.

“It was really brave of those women to come forward and say 'No this is not just uncomfortable, this is violence and an invasion on me,'” she said.

She described the alleged behaviour as defying the stereotype.

“So we often think of sending what I would call d*** pics to sort of a younger generation, a university generation, that being sort of where the problem lies. But in fact it also happens commonly in workplaces. And so the dynamics of an older generation, just bringing that to attention for folks,” she explained.

Trudell said she sees the incident as an opportunity for more education in workplaces related to gender violence.

No one from the City of London agreed to an interview with CTV News London on the matter, but the city did issue the following statement from Michael Goldrup, director, people service:

“The City is committed to providing a safe and respectful workplace. As an employer, we are not in a position to comment on personnel matters, which includes employment status. As such, we will not be providing any information related to questions related to any specific employee.

We can confirm our commitment to do everything we can to protect all of our City employees from all forms of violence and harassment. Any allegation is taken extremely seriously and handled immediately.

Our People Plan includes Respectful Workplace and Workplace Violence Prevention programs. We are working to create a safe environment where employees are respectful, and individuals feel supported, safe, engaged, and respected in an inclusive work environment – every day.

This commitment extends to our community, through our Safe Cities initiative and our strategic plan priority to make London a safe city for women, girls, trans and non-binary individuals and survivors.”