Unions affiliated with the FTQ-Construction are asking the coroner to hold a public inquiry into the death of Vito Fundaro which occurred on a construction site in Montreal.
Posted at 7:37 p.m.
The death of the young 26-year-old worker under the weight of a load which came loose from a crane at 61e floor of Square Phillips last June could have been avoided, argue unions affiliated with the FTQ-Construction.
The Association of Inter-Provincial Laborers (AMI), Local 9, Local 717 and Local 791 are calling for a public coroner’s inquest to shed light on the death of young Vito Fundaro.
With this investigation, the unions hope to have the same results as those obtained after the public inquiries by coroner Denis Boudrias in the scuba diving sector in 1990.
As the number of deaths grew, the coroner made recommendations that led to new health and safety regulations, explains The Press Alexandre Ricard, president and director of Locale 9.
“This led to very specific measures of work procedures in these very specific types of work and we reported a dazzling improvement in health and safety,” he says.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The Association of Inter-Provincial Laborers (AMI), Local 9, Local 717 and Local 791 are calling for a public coroner’s inquest to shed light on the death of young Vito Fundaro.
The government had mandated the CNESST to review the Regulations on Health and Safety at Work (RSST) and it had added a complete chapter on scuba diving, report the unions.
“The improvement is exceptional. Since the coroner’s public inquest, there have been zero deaths. »
According to the unions, all stakeholders must participate in this investigation as was the case for scuba diving. The health and safety deficiencies on construction sites are systemic, they argue, and there is a lack of inspectors from the CNESST and the CCQ which leads industry players to cut corners.
“We put profits and production before health and safety,” denounces Alexandre Ricard, from Locale 9.
Union representatives say they are observing more and more situations in the field where inspectors are unable to suspend work on a non-compliant site.
“We need more inspections, therefore more people to do the work, and above all, people who have free rein to suspend the work when necessary. When we report irregularities, it is not normal that we have response times that are measured in weeks, both on the CNESST side and on the CCQ side,” denounces Alexandre Ricard.
