A Quebec coroner has opened a public inquiry into the deaths of four construction workers killed on job sites between 2024 and 2025, as new evidence highlights the construction industry’s heavy toll in traumatic and occupational disease fatalities.

Coroner Andrée Kronström began inquest proceedings on Monday, March 24, to examine the circumstances and contributing factors in the deaths of four men working on separate construction projects in Montreal, Terrebonne, Brownsburg‑Chatham and Drummondville, The Canadian Press reports.

The inquiry is focusing on the deaths of Vito Fundaro, killed on June 19, 2024, in Montreal; Médrik Lincourt, who died on August 4, 2025, in Terrebonne; Maxime Forget, who died on August 21, 2024, in Brownsburg‑Chatham; and Mario Ross, who died on April 4, 2025, in Drummondville, according to CP.

Circumstances of the four fatalities

Fundaro died after being struck by a pole that fell from a skyscraper, according to the report. The pole had been hooked by a crane positioned on the building’s roof. Lincourt was killed when the bucket of a mechanical shovel came loose and fell while he was in an excavation for a construction site. Forget – who was working as a road flagger – was crushed by a backhoe during a reversing manoeuvre.

Ross, assigned to signalling duties, died when he was crushed by a truck backing up to access the construction site. In her opening remarks during the inquest proceedings, Kronström said the public inquiry is intended to do more than reconstruct the four incidents. In addition to determining circumstances and contributing factors, the investigation should allow for “a broader reflection on the components that influence the health and safety of construction workers,” she said, as reported by CP.

Oversight roles of RBQ and CNESST

The first day of hearings featured testimony from representatives of the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) and the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) on how their organisations operate and oversee safety in the construction sector. The RBQ told the inquiry that in 2024‑2025 it employed 110 inspectors and carried out 14,284 inspection interventions.

CNESST investigations co‑ordinator Pierre Privé testified that the Commission employs 314 inspectors, including 200 assigned to facilities and 86 dedicated to construction sites. He said about one‑third of CNESST staff is dedicated to the construction sector, which covers buildings and public works, according to the report. Privé noted that, despite budget cuts affecting ministries and agencies, “the number of inspectors at the CNESST has not been reduced,” CP noted.

Fatality and occupational disease data

Privé also told the inquiry that the buildings and public works sector ranks first for both traumatic fatalities and deaths linked to occupational disease. The CNESST recorded 74 accidental work‑related deaths in 2024 across 32 sectors, including 16 deaths – or 22 per cent – in the buildings and public works category. On the occupational disease side, CNESST documented 172 deaths in 2024, including 52 in the construction sector, representing 30 per cent of the total, CP reports.

The hearings are scheduled to continue until March 27, with additional sitting days planned in the spring and autumn.

Several construction‑sector employer associations and trade unions are participating in the inquiry, alongside government departments, the Quebec Construction Commission, the RBQ and the CNESST, CP reports.