Worker's death at Farrellton sand pit blamed on ‘unsuitable’ conditions

Ronald O’Connor Construction Inc. guilty of

workplace safety infractions that led to worker's 2018 death

Ronald O’Connor Construction in Farrellton pleaded guilty to “having directly and seriously compromised the health, safety, or physical integrity of a worker” after employee Daniel Dompierre was killed in a landslide in a company sandpit in 2018. Low Down file photo

Nearly five years after Daniel Dompierre, a 31-year-old father from Bouchette, was killed in a landslide at a Ronald O’Connor Construction sandpit near Farrellton, Quebec's workplace safety commission has found that the sand wall where the worker was digging was geotechnically "unsuitable" for its intended use.

CNESST, the government body responsible for upholding workplace health and safety regulations in the province, revealed at a press conference on Oct. 18 that Ronald O’Connor Construction pleaded guilty in April to “having directly and seriously compromised the health, safety, or physical integrity of a worker.” The construction company paid $70,108 in fines for the infractions that led to Dompierre’s death, the report stated.

On Nov. 1, 2018, Dompierre was operating an excavator in the company sandpit when a landslide buried him and the machine he was in. Authorities worked for a week to stabilize the pit before they were able to recover his body on Nov. 8, 2018.

For the full story, pick up the next edition of the Low Down on Oct. 25.