Fatal Blainville construction site collapse: Syscomax collaborating with dual investigations

“We’re all very shocked by what happened.”

Those were the words from the president of the general contractor leading construction at the site in Blainville where a man was killed when retaining walls collapsed on Tuesday.

Jean-Philip Robitaille, the president of Syscomax Immobilier, was dejected and emotional when he spoke to CityNews on Thursday morning.

“The whole team involved, the whole company, all the workers were impacted by what happened. It’s tough moments. We’re trying to take care of the people as our first main objective,” said Robitaille.

Alexandre Paris, 31, who was working for a subcontracting company, died after being buried in clay-like soil during the collapse.

Robitaille, who didn’t know Paris personally, called the death a tragedy, and said everybody in the construction world was a “big family.” The president says the company spoke to the man’s father. “As you can imagine, he’s in shock, he’s going through the worst emotions.”

Parallel investigations by police and the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) are underway. Robitaille said he was limited in what he could share.

“As you can understand, there’s not much I can talk about the site, the conditions, what happened,” Robitaille said. “I have obligations to reserve my comments and talk about what happened. But we are collaborating with everybody involved, we’re helping bring them answers and all the information they asked for. There is an investigation going on and it will reveal what really happened.

“We are the first ones interested in knowing what happened, what caused it, to make sure it never happens again.”

In a statement to the press on Tuesday, the sub-contracting company Preco-MSE said it was working with the agencies investigating what caused the death of its employee and injured another.

“At this point, it is too early to say what caused the accident. Preco-MSE and its teams are cooperating actively with the CNESST investigation which aims to shed light on this dreadful incident,” the statement said.

The Blainville fire department director said the recovery operation for Paris’ body was complicated by the soil consistency after heavy rain over the weekend, but he would not say if those conditions were the cause of the wall collapse.

CSN-Construction union vice-president Félix Ferland alleges a union representative was at the site earlier Tuesday – prior to the wall collapse – and made recommendations to project managers “after seeing the wall had certain movements.”

“So, they had apparently planned a survey team in the afternoon to come and measure everything,” Ferland said at a press conference Wednesday.

“I know that there was a representative of the employer who went that same morning, he went down into the excavation, and then he looked at everything. So was the engineer’s inspection done properly? Was the work done correctly at the drilling level? Several questions arise.”

Syscomax Immobilier president Robitaille could not comment on Ferland’s claims.

“I very well understand why you ask that, and what is the objective of it,” Robitaille told CityNews. “But as you know, I’m in a very delicate situation at the moment, and I cannot give more information about any more details that came out.”

Robitaille said it was very important for the company to acknowledge the “collateral victims” of such an incident. He says that’s why all job sites were closed Tuesday.

“We met together, the whole team, to listen to each other, to understand each other, just to support us. Just trying to take it slow,” he said.

It’s also why Syscomax put together a crisis unit for all workers “to help them go through that really difficult challenge we’re facing right now.” Those resources were also made available to Paris’ family.

Eligible construction workers who need psychological support can access them by calling the Construire en santé helpline at 1-800-807-2433.

–With files from Gareth Madoc-Jones