The risk of aggression towards the staff of a Consignaction+ branch led the CNESST to order the suspension of the transport and handling of money there. Furthermore, no contract has yet been awarded for the recovery of the glass which will be recovered there from 1er March 2025, and packagers who have expressed interest are getting impatient.
Posted at 1:53 a.m.
Updated at 7:00 a.m.
The Consignaction+ returnable container location in Granby had to suspend the transportation and handling of cash on the orders of the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST), in April , due to the “risk of aggression” that the staff ran.
“I judge that there is danger for the health, safety or physical integrity of workers and management personnel,” wrote an inspector dispatched to the site on April 24 in her intervention report, that The Press obtained.
The presence of the CNESST followed a complaint received two days earlier, as well as the article from The Presspublished the same morning, reporting this situation.
Read the article “Returnable containers: employees “at risk” when transporting money”
“The transport and handling of cash intended for filling the cash counter [sont] unsafe[s] », concludes the inspector, pointing out the use of employees’ personal vehicles, the use of a backpack and the absence of specific training for transporting money.
Such a situation contravenes the Occupational Health and Safety Actshe says.
The employer did not take the necessary measures to prevent the risk of attack and to ensure the protection of staff during the transport and handling of cash.
Extract from the CNESST intervention report
The publication of the article by The Press also “had the effect of increasing the pressure and risks” to which staff were already exposed, the report added.
The CNESST ordered the very morning of April 24 to suspend the transportation and handling of money, ordering the establishment to “establish and apply security prevention measures” and to train its staff.
A problem known before opening
The risks arising from the transport and handling of cash had, however, been described by the Association québécoise de Récuperation des Containers de Beverages (AQRCB), the organization created by bottlers to manage the deposit system and which is working to set up the network of Consignaction return locations, underlines the CNESST report.
“All the employer representatives met mentioned that prior to the official opening of the Granby establishment [le 11 avril]the risks of attack which could cause injuries to workers during an attempted theft had been identified,” writes the inspector.
The AQRCB had initiated discussions with a cash-in-transit company, but no contract had been signed.
“The official opening date was still maintained,” wrote the inspector, specifying that the counter had been filled at least five times between April 11 and 24.
The AQRCB defended itself by asserting that the transport of funds was not carried out by employees of the Granby branch, an argument categorically rejected by the CNESST.
The fact that the transport of cash was done by a member of management staff rather than a worker in certain cases has no impact on the employer’s obligations in terms of occupational health and safety.
Extract from the CNESST intervention report
It was only two days after the article appeared in The Press and the intervention of the CNESST, on April 26, that a contract was signed with the cash conveyor Brinks Canada, which led to the lifting of the suspension of the transport and handling of funds.
“The employer will not know the days, the times of the fillings as well as the amounts transported,” indicates the inspector, adding that the AQRCB has developed a safe working procedure for the unblocking of the counter by its employees.
Called to react, the AQRCB laconically indicated to The Press having “retained the services of a funds transfer firm for all return locations,” declared its spokesperson, Annie Jolicoeur.
The glass always orphaned
The treatment of glass containers which will be returnable from 1er March 2025, like wine bottles, is not yet determined, since no contract has yet been awarded by the AQRCB, unlike most other materials.
Quebec glass conditioners are growing impatient with these delays, even if they say they are all ready to receive additional volumes.
“We want to invest in new facilities” to adequately meet demand, said Robert Julien, senior vice-president of 2M Resources, which requires a certain amount of notice. “There is still time, but it is going quickly,” indicated the spokesperson for the Bellemare group, Robert Pilote.
“Significant investments remain to be made across Quebec and the industry needs visibility on future deposits to plan them,” added Raphaël Groulx, director of finance and shared services for the Vision Environnement Group. “It is one minute to midnight if the objective is for this circular economy model to be ready at the beginning of 2025,” he estimates.
Glass processing capacity cannot be used as an excuse to push back the instructions again, Robert Julien declared in May, during a summit bringing together the clean technology cluster. The AQRCB affirms that the file is continuing. “We are currently evaluating the offers received for glass packaging based on their financial and environmental value,” said its spokesperson, Annie Jolicoeur.
