Death of Hydro-Québec Worker Prompts Review of Health and Safety Practices

January 13, 2017

Following the death of a worker on December 9, 2016, a special committee put in place by Hydro-Québec’s Board of Directors has hired international firm ERM to analyze the utility’s health and safety practices and ensure that all jobsites meet its standards.

The worker died after a rockface collapsed over his mechanical shovel while he was doing excavation work on the Romaine River. The hydro-electric scheme, valued at $6.5 billion, involves diverting the Romaine River at points along a 150-kilometre stretch to create four reservoirs. The worksite is located on Quebec’s North Shore about 200 kilometres east of Sept-Iles. Shown in photo: access road to the fatality site.

Hydro-Québec’s management will work closely with ERM specialists. Based on its on-site observations of the utility’s practices, particularly those in place at the Romaine jobsite, ERM will report regularly to the special committee and present its recommendations no later than spring 2017.

ERM is a global provider of environmental, health, safety, risk, social consulting services and sustainability-related services. It has over 160 offices in more than 40 countries and territories, employing 4,500 people.