(Montreal) Quebec is launching a campaign and a week on the safety of road workers, after there were 822 victims in road construction sites in Quebec last year.
The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, made the announcement, Monday in Montreal, of this first National Road Worker Safety Awareness Week, in front of road inspectors, road flaggers, construction workers and representatives of the Sûreté du Québec, among others.
Such an awareness campaign is “a very long-standing request from people in the industry,” underlined the minister. Such an awareness week will now take place during the second week of June each year.
“Despite the occasional improvement in the balance sheet observed in 2023, we are currently seeing an overall deterioration in the road balance sheet since the start of 2024,” lamented Francis Bernardin, of the Sûreté du Québec, alongside the minister.
“As of June 3, 93 fatal collisions had been recorded in the territory served by the Sûreté du Québec, which represents an increase of more than 35% compared to the average of the last five years,” he said. added.
Road workers, such as flaggers, controllers and construction workers, are particularly vulnerable.
The Steelworkers union, which represents several road flaggers, believes that holding this awareness campaign is a step in the right direction, but that it is insufficient. He also calls for more training for flaggers and a form of certification for companies in the sector.