The April 28 commemorations for workers who died or were injured on the job took a very dark turn in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
• Read also: Buffer zone near the Horne Foundry in Rouyn-Noranda: organizations fear an increase in housing demand
It is that at the Horne Foundry, an employee was seriously injured. Another was also injured during work.
The accident happened overnight from Thursday to Friday last week.
What we do know for the moment is that one of the two workers, a subcontractor from the Horne Foundry, had to be rushed to a hospital in Montreal.
He is said to have suffered serious poisoning while he was carrying out suction work in the electrofilter sector and there is unfortunately fear for his life.
As for the other worker, he suffered less serious eye injuries. However, his life would not be in danger.
It should be noted that the workers were carrying out work as part of the general shutdown of the Foundry. It was at this time that they would have suffered dust poisoning composed of several heavy metals that are harmful to health.
By e-mail, the Horne Foundry tells us that it “takes the event very seriously and that an investigation has been launched by the Foundry to determine what may have led to this incident.
However, the company says it is currently too early to say exactly what the timeline of events was. Currently, the Horne Foundry tells us that the CNESST was contacted within an hour of the events. However, we are talking about an investigation and not an official inquiry.
Investigators are therefore on site to investigate and, subsequently, a decision will be made as to whether an investigation will be launched.
In short, according to the Horne Foundry, all similar work had to be suspended, while the investigations occur.
At this time, it is not possible to say in what condition the worker greatly affected by injuries is. However, we should have other information over the next few days.