Ontario Construction News staff writer
A coroner’s inquest into the 2016 death of an Ottawa construction worker who died while working on the Claridge Icon building has been postponed.
Olivier Bruneau, 24, was working at the bottom of a nine-storey deep construction pit when a slab of ice detached from one of the excavation walls and hit him.
The inquest was scheduled to start today (Jul. 25), however, the Chief Coroner said it was postponed after “discussion with counsel and in the best interests of the inquest.”
The coroner’s office did not provide a new date.
According to information reported by CBC/Radio-Canada, the coroner’s inquest will focus on four points:
- Safety protocols for the work site, particularly ice removal and mitigation of dangers posed by falling ice.
- Protocols for site inspection, including any follow up site inspection, once safety concerns had been raised.
- The criteria for reopening the site after being closed for safety reasons.
- The creation of exclusion zones.
The inquest is expected to last about five days and include 17 witnesses.
Claridge Homes and the construction company Bellai Brothers both pleaded guilty in 2019 to failing to ensure the walls of the construction site were free of objects that could fall and they were each fined $325,000.
