Montreal Accident Shows Necessity of Insurance for Construction Firms

Across Canada, many construction or contracting small businesses operate with no safety problems every single day. However, the issue with those safety problems is that they are often just accidents, and accidents by their very nature can happen at any time. Consequently, it’s important for those companies to make sure they’re reviewing their insurance needs and current standing on a regular basis to ensure everything is going as it should.

One incident that highlights this particular need recently occurred in Montreal, when a woman who was just driving down the street suddenly saw a metal rod from a nearby construction site come flying through her windshield, according to a report from the CBC. This incident took place in November, and happened so quickly that the woman didn’t even know what had occurred for a moment or two.

Construction companies need to carefully review their insurance needs.

What happened?
As she was driving, a piece of rebar that was embedded in some pavement as reinforcement was shaken loose by a hydraulic hammer, and launched into traffic, the report said. The construction crew didn’t even know that the rebar was there in the first place. In addition, though, the protective barrier that is supposed to be in place around all construction sites was not as high as it should have been, allowing the debris to pose a serious safety hazard. In the end, the piece of metal seems to have only missed the driver’s face by a few inches.

“I was paralyzed for a good half a minute and then all I saw was this huge hole in the windshield directly where my face is. Right in front of my face – a hole – in the windshield,” Sigal Karasik, the driver in question, told the news organization. “I started to look around in the car to try to figure out what happened and I noticed to my right, there was a big iron rod. They saw my car and that’s when they all started to go, ‘Whoa, this is serious.’ “My hands were cut up there was blood all over my hands. I had glass everywhere. My jacket was ripped up, I had glass shards in my eyes in my hair, all over me even in my mouth. One thing that I don’t understand is that I’m still alive. The hole was directly in front of my face and for some reason it landed right beside me and not in my head.”

What comes next?
After the incident, an investigation from Quebec’s Commission de la Sante et de la Securite du Travail found that an additional barrier wall should have been added to the site – it later was – and that the ways in which the construction firm dismantles pavement should have been different, the report said. However, it did not levy any fines or other penalties against the company responsible.

This just goes to show that construction companies can never be too careful, and that the unexpected can occur at any time. As such, having a robust insurance policy in place to protect all involved may go a long way.

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