Concerns over falling ice were frequently discussed among the workers of an Ottawa construction site where 24-year-old Olivier Bruneau was struck and killed in March 2016.

But two workers who testified Friday as part of the provincial coroner's inquest into Bruneau's death that began earlier this week say those concerns never led to any formal action from their supervisors.

When Michel Dequanne first started working at the Claridge Icon condo construction site in Ottawa, he said his colleagues shared one piece of advice: keep an eye on the ice. 

Dequanne was a lead man with Taggart Construction at the time of the incident, which occurred roughly two weeks after he started on the job. 

Two days before Bruneau's death, Dequanne snapped a picture of the ice along the walls of the nine-storey-deep construction pit where he worked. The photograph shows thick layers of ice on the south wall of the pit. 

"I found it odd that we were working with all this ice along the walls," said Dequanne, adding he'd worked at winter sites before but never with ice as thick or big. 

Dequanne said there were ongoing conversations about the ice concerns, and he and other workers received informal advice from their supervisor in those discussions. He said they were told to be careful and stay away from the wall, but didn't receive formal instructions or safety policies. 

"The job was not safe," Dequanne said, adding he wasn't surprised when he heard of Bruneau being hit by ice, but was shocked someone had been hurt. 

Despite feeling that the workplace was unsafe, Dequanne said he didn't feel reporting it to the Ontario Ministry of Labour or another supervisor in his organization was for him to do.

"I feel that higher-ups should be involved in that conversation, and not myself." 

Matthew Pilon, a labourer with Taggart Construction at the time of the incident, said he feels Bruneau's death "100 per cent" could have been prevented.

"No matter the cost of safety, it needs to get paid for, because people's lives are at stake," Pilon said when he testified virtually on Friday. 

Pilon said when he first arrived on the site in early March, a hired company would use a high-pressure hose to break down the ice on the walls, which froze overnight. 

One day, Pilon said the company stopped coming, which his foreman told him was likely a financial decision. 

After that, the thick ice was more frequent and Pilon said it wasn't unusual to hear loud banging noises around the site as ice fell. 

"You pretty much had to watch your own back, while you're trying to work," he said. 

Pilon said the ice was the worst around the south wall of the pit, which he refused to work close to. 

When asked why he didn't go to the Ontario Ministry of Labour with his concerns, Pilon said he followed directions by speaking to his foreman. 

"From what we're told as construction workers and being a labourer, you always go to your superior. So if you have to voice a concern, you go to your superior, he goes to his superior and so on and so forth. It goes up the ladder," he said.

When informed by a lawyer representing the Ontario Ministry of Labour that anonymous complaints could be made, Pilon said he wasn't aware, and would "definitely" keep it in mind. 

The inquest also heard from Erik Oliveira on Thursday, who was working as a labourer at the construction site in 2016.

He told the inquiry about an incident that happened before Bruneau's death, where ice fell directly onto a compressor that he and another worker were standing beside. 

The ice dented the machine, Oliveira said, and the incident left him shaken. 

Oliveira said he discussed it with their supervisor and foreman, but no official report to the Ontario Ministry of Labour was ever made.

"I was younger back then, inexperienced," he said on why he didn't consider going to the ministry himself. 

If he were in that situation today, Oliveira added, he would act differently. 

Safiyah Marhnouj is a reporter with CBC Ottawa. She is a 2022 Joan Donaldson scholar and recently graduated from Carleton University’s journalism program. She has written for the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen and Capital Current. You can reach her at safiyah.marhnouj@cbc.ca.

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