A boy under 14 was “seriously injured” in an accident at work at Village Vacances Valcartier this spring. The Standards, Equity, Health and Safety Commission (CNESST) blamed his employer for the “lack of training and supervision” of young workers and gave 25 insults to the village.
Updated yesterday at 5:17pm.
On June 4th, Léo* and his team cleared the dead leaves at the campsite of the Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier leisure tourism complex. The four travel in an Autoquad – designed for two people – to which a trailer is coupled.
While standing in the cargo box of the moving vehicle, the young worker was ejected around a bend, according to the CNESST investigative report released Thursday. The trailer, which weighs around 900 kg, rolls over him and he sustains serious head and upper body injuries.
Leo’s case is not unique. La Presse revealed last week that hundreds of children under the age of 16 have been injured in workplace accidents in Quebec in recent years.
At Village Vacances Valcartier, “just over 175” of the nearly 800 employees were under 14 in June. Quebec plans to restrict child labor in a bill that will be introduced in February.
“For more than a hundred of them, the employer did not have signed parental authorization,” CNESST said in a press release.
CNESST recalled in its investigation report that it is illegal to carry a passenger in the cargo box of an ATV, all occupants must wear a helmet and seat belt, and the driver must be at least 18 years old and hold a valid driver’s license.
However, the driver of the UTV was a minor and did not have a driver’s license. None of the workers were wearing seat belts or helmets.
The workers weren’t informed of these duties — they hadn’t received specific training to drive the UTV — and they weren’t provided with helmets by the employer.
At a “Welcome Day” the campsite attendant “gave verbal instructions not to get into the cargo box of the Autoquad”. However, she was absent on June 4th and the equally untrained team leader “gets into the loading box of the quads himself,” notes the CNESST.
duty to know
“The use of an Autoquad is linked to several requirements,” the commission sums up. “The employer must know them and [Loi sur la santé et la sécurité du travail] requires it to train its employees on these and the risks involved […] However, the employer didn’t do it, ”she decides.
After the accident, the CNESST Village Vacances asked Valcartier to “develop a working method that takes into account the requirements of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) related to driving this type of vehicle,” which the employer has complied with.
CNESST also served 23 insults related to labor standards and 2 insults related to occupational health and safety to Village Vacances Valcartier.
Exact amounts are not disclosed, but the total could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Asked to respond, Village Vacances Valcartier refused to answer La Presse’s questions “out of respect for the injured person and their loved ones.”
“The health and safety of our employees and our visitors remains a priority and we intend to continue to give it the importance it deserves,” the employer said in a press release. “We receive the report presented today and will give it the attention it deserves. »
* Fictitious first names to protect his identity.