The Quebec workers’ health and safety board, the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité au travail (CNESST), concluded in a report that heatstroke contributed to the death of a construction worker in May. The man, who worked as a roofer, died on May 14 in Boucherville on Montreal’s South Shore while repairing the roof of a house. On that day, the temperature reached 27 degrees Celsius. However, with the humidex factor, it felt like 30 degrees at the time of the incident, according to the CNESST. The report says the worker felt unwell, weak and confused. He sat down on the roof, and after a few minutes, he got up but lost his balance and fell from a height of 5.15 metres. The CNESST also noted a lack of planning and control of fall protection measures as causes of death. The worker was wearing a harness, but it was not anchored to a fall arrest system. The commission emphasized that the height of the house, combined with the slope of the roof, required a fall protection system. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 15, 2026.
