Flawed method to blame for workers’ death, injury at Anjou construction company: CNESST
Posted August 28, 2026 12:11 pm.
Quebec’s workplace safety agency has concluded that a flawed work method used to conduct a pressure test on a pipe caused the death of a foreman and injuries to another worker on Nov. 20 at SCV-Enercor in Anjou.
In its recently published report, the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) concludes that the work method used did not adequately control the risk of being struck by the pressurized pipe.
On that day, workers were conducting a pneumatic pressure test to verify the leak-tightness of a 25.6-foot-long stainless steel pipe weighing 618 pounds.
During the test, compressed air was released, the collar and a plug were ejected, and the pipe was propelled forward, striking the foreman and a worker.
Emergency services were called. The foreman, who was standing one meter from the pipe, died, and the worker sustained serious injuries.
“The absence of restraint devices, combined with the rapid release of compressed air and the weight of the hose, caused it to move violently and uncontrollably. As it moved, the hose fatally struck the foreman and seriously injured the worker who was nearby,” wrote the CNESST inspectors.
In their report, they noted “several nonconformities” in the work procedure used during the workshop test.
“The work procedure used to conduct the pneumatic pressure test is deficient because it does not control the risk of being struck by the hose,” they conclude.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
