According to the industry’s largest union, a labor inspector expelled workers from the REM site for smoking cannabis during their break last summer, an example of a broader problem in the construction industry.
Posted at 7:00 p.m.
The officer was preparing to leave the site after a brief visit on June 8 when he noticed “a strong odor of cannabis” in the parking lot where the workers were eating their lunch.
“I remind the project manager of the prohibition on working on a construction site while impaired,” says the Commission on Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) report. ). “The project manager identifies workers who use cannabis and informs them that they cannot return to the site that day. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CNESST
Photo of the construction site taken by the CNESST inspector on the day of inspection at the REM construction site
The core of the problem: the risk of injury when working with powerful tools or when operating heavy machinery in a restricted state.
Such an event does not surprise FTQ-Construction in the least, as it believes the problem is “widespread” on construction sites in Quebec. “I’m not surprised, this is not the first construction site where there is a smell of cannabis,” said Simon Lévesque, the union’s health and safety officer. “At lunchtime and even during work, sometimes in the toilets or hallways, there is a smell of cannabis. »
Workers consume for different reasons, he explained. For example, some people want to stop having “shoulder pain” “so they can keep up.”
In his opinion, the legalization of cannabis in 2018 did not change anything: “It has been a long time since we smelled cannabis on construction sites. »
Increased dangers
For an unknown reason, the CNESST refused to grant an interview to La Presse about the danger posed by cannabis on construction sites in Quebec.
Simon Lévesque argued that according to the law it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that its employees do not work under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
What I find strange is that it is the CNESST inspector who detects cannabis odors in the workplace.
Simon Lévesque, responsible for health and safety files at FTQ-Construction
Guillaume Houle, spokesman for the Association de la construction du Québec (ACQ), declined to comment on the prevalence of the issue. But “we have to take the situation seriously, no matter how many times it happens, it is clear,” he said.
“These are situations that can happen, just like a worker showing up under the influence of alcohol can happen,” Mr Houle continued. The employer must “take disciplinary action and take steps to ensure that this person does not endanger his or her own safety or the safety of other employees.”
“All construction sites are extremely dangerous, so if a worker is under the influence of alcohol or drugs there could be serious consequences,” he added.
“Zero tolerance” in REM
As for the REM site, three workers have been definitively excluded from the project, assured the site’s project manager, the NouvLR consortium. The event occurred on the project section in Deux-Montagnes.
“NouvLR applies zero tolerance to anyone who comes to work under the influence of alcohol and drugs, including cannabis, and therefore immediately removes from its sites and offices any person it suspects of being impaired.” , explained communications director Marc-André Lefebvre. by email. The organization declined La Presse’s interview request.
“In the specific case you are referring to, the three people affected were employees of a subcontractor. “As soon as the report was received, our construction managers immediately took over the situation and ordered workers to safely leave the site,” Mr. Lefebvre continued. NouvLR confirms that these individuals never worked on any of its websites again. »
The CNESST also refused to provide further information about its intervention.