YouTube transcript (qQz8bATD8oQ) — Transcript

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1. 0:07My name is Gerald LeBlanc and I've
2. 0:09worked on a bridge that's called
3. 0:11Confederation Bridge. Span that goes
4. 0:13[music] between New Brunswick and Prince
5. 0:15Edward Island.
6. 0:17And I've worked there in '96 and '97.
7. 0:20And it's a 13 km bridge. Has [music]
8. 0:2321 approaches and 44 piers.
9. 0:34I was
10. 0:35site superintendent. We were 60 people
11. 0:37working on the on the project. Had
12. 0:40two GFs and six foremen.
13. 0:42So one GF called me in and said that one
14. 0:45of his foremen had brought his attention
15. 0:47that he had a
16. 0:49>> [music]
17. 0:49>> new worker, apprentice, which
18. 0:52was not listening appropriately to all
19. 0:55his directions. He was going at
20. 0:56locations where he was not supposed to
21. 0:58be at. [music]
22. 1:00There are certain spots on the bridge
23. 1:02that was not ready for us to go work at,
24. 1:05so we had to skip them.
25. 1:07So um
26. 1:09at that time we had a meeting.
27. 1:12It was sorry. [music] It was the end of
28. 1:13the day.
29. 1:15So we set up a meeting for the next day,
30. 1:17the supervisor itself, the GF and
31. 1:19myself.
32. 1:21To discuss what we were going to be
33. 1:22doing with this new employee.
34. 1:26So the next morning when we had our
35. 1:28meeting, we've discussed what we were
36. 1:30going to do and we had decided to put
37. 1:33this new worker in the tool crib
38. 1:35for approximately 2 weeks where it would
39. 1:38give us a chance to go talk to him every
40. 1:40day. To calm him down, to show him and
41. 1:43to tell him [music] how the scope of the
42. 1:44work is operating on an industrial site.
43. 1:48Try to educate him so that he doesn't
44. 1:51have to run to every task [music] that
45. 1:53he's doing.
46. 2:00>> The same morning
47. 2:02that he went back to his regular crew,
48. 2:05the supervisor
49. 2:07>> [music]
50. 2:07>> uh called in the GF
51. 2:09stating the same complaint that he was
52. 2:12in a pier where he wasn't supposed to
53. 2:13be. He was caught
54. 2:15first thing in the morning going across
55. 2:18uh a span [music] that he was or uh
56. 2:19sorry, a pier that he was not allowed to
57. 2:21go work to.
58. 2:23So, it was brought back to our attention
59. 2:26and they came they called me up
60. 2:30and we have a second meeting.
61. 2:33When I got the call,
62. 2:35it felt like it wasn't real.
63. 2:38It you
64. 2:40feel like your body's you're you're
65. 2:42outside your body.
66. 2:44Then you have to rush there and you have
67. 2:46to find out if it's what you think
68. 2:48[music] is true
69. 2:49is really true.
70. 2:52So, we all jumped [music] in a truck
71. 2:54and we drove
72. 2:56to pier
73. 2:57uh 39.
74. 2:59So, we've crossed [music] over.
75. 3:02When we got there, it was apparent that
76. 3:05uh he had put a a ladder
77. 3:08across the span where [music] he was not
78. 3:11allowed to go work.
79. 3:13He was working [music] off a 60-ft
80. 3:16scaffolding
81. 3:18and he had brought [music] in with him a
82. 3:20second 24-ft ladder
83. 3:23to work on underneath the top deck
84. 3:26where the footing of the ladder had
85. 3:28slipped on the scaffolding
86. 3:30where he had plunged down 80 to 90 ft
87. 3:34to uh to concrete.
88. 3:44When we got back to work,
89. 3:45>> [clears throat]
90. 3:46>> OH&S has stopped the work, which is
91. 3:49absolutely [music] normal procedure.
92. 3:52We took all the workers
93. 3:53and uh we
94. 3:55briefed them on what had happened,
95. 3:57the status [music] of
96. 3:59of the the scope of the work, and the
97. 4:02hazards that were [music] involved
98. 4:04in complying with all the safety
99. 4:07of the job site itself.
100. 4:09Try to keep all the workers informed in
101. 4:11as to [music] everything that had
102. 4:13happened. So, this way here there was no
103. 4:15doubts or
104. 4:17or bad feelings.
105. 4:25As soon as after they froze the scene,
106. 4:28they confiscated my journal. That was
107. 4:31part one. [music] They we were
108. 4:32interviewed for 6 hours, myself, the
109. 4:37GF, and [music] the supervisor in
110. 4:39question.
111. 4:41They confiscated my my journal,
112. 4:44the GF's journal, and the supervisor's.
113. 4:46[music]
114. 4:47They photocopied the whole journal
115. 4:49completely.
116. 4:50That was part of their record that they
117. 4:52wanted to to have.
118. 4:54Plus um
119. 4:57part of their investigation [music] was
120. 5:00everything that had happened to this
121. 5:02worker for the last 7 days.
122. 5:05Because at that time we were working 7
123. 5:07days a week.
124. 5:08So, they wanted to understand
125. 5:11what had happened and how did it come
126. 5:14about that this worker went to this
127. 5:17point the way he did.
128. 5:26And every morning when I went up to
129. 5:28work, there was a radio station that was
130. 5:31broadcasting the weather forecast.
131. 5:34So, not by being smart, I would just
132. 5:36always copy down what they were saying.
133. 5:39And unless the conditions of the weather
134. 5:41itself changed that day, I wouldn't
135. 5:43adjust my notes to that. I would just
136. 5:45leave it to whatever
137. 5:47they had said on the radio that that
138. 5:49day.
139. 5:55I would always write everything that
140. 5:58happened, every conversation that I had
141. 6:00that pertain to the job, whether it was
142. 6:03material delivery, if it was returning
143. 6:05material, if it was
144. 6:07um
145. 6:09anything that was a safety issue on the
146. 6:11job site itself, I would log it in.
147. 6:14Uh the foremans, I would write uh the
148. 6:17spots on location of the project where
149. 6:20every supervisors had their crews every
150. 6:23day. So, this way here I could track
151. 6:27where people were working all the time.
152. 6:37After the funeral, the stand down, and
153. 6:40we kept working for approximately 2
154. 6:42months when the RCMP showed up at the
155. 6:44main gate.
156. 6:46Then I had a summons that we had to
157. 6:48appear in court, and also my journal was
158. 6:51summonsed also. I had to bring my
159. 6:53journal in with me.
160. 6:55So, once we went into at to and and to
161. 6:58court for the the preliminary hearing,
162. 7:01the judge ordered me and the journal in
163. 7:04his chamber.
164. 7:06Then he grabbed my journal, and he's
165. 7:08trying to locate if I am telling the
166. 7:10truth or not.
167. 7:12So, he turns around, and that was the
168. 7:14only landmark that was on my journal
169. 7:16that was consistent every day.
170. 7:19So, he phoned in the the weather bureau
171. 7:22and said
172. 7:24uh this radio station, CKCW, says every
173. 7:28morning, I want you to verify for me,
174. 7:30please, if
175. 7:32this day, what does it say? So, he
176. 7:35picked in the vicinity of 20 to 25 days
177. 7:38that randomly through my journal,
178. 7:40and after everything was said,
179. 7:44I had kept inaccurate weather
180. 7:47point on my journal.
181. 7:49So, the judge agreed that he would
182. 7:52consider that my journal was to be true.
183. 7:55We had also I had also logged the
184. 7:58meetings that I had had with the GF and
185. 8:00the foreman about the work ring
186. 8:03question.
187. 8:05And the content of why we were having
188. 8:08this meeting. So, the judge
189. 8:11took
190. 8:12that I was telling the truth.
191. 8:19He also had interviews with uh
192. 8:22with all six supervisors
193. 8:25and asked a bunch of question of stuff
194. 8:27that I had wrote written into the
195. 8:29journal itself.
196. 8:31He did verify like a lot of points to
197. 8:34see if I was writing the truth into the
198. 8:37journal because he was
199. 8:39he had to make a decision whether I had
200. 8:42written the truth or [music] not.
201. 8:44So, there was a lot of points that was
202. 8:47uh the interviews with the with the work
203. 8:48with sorry with the supervisors as where
204. 8:51[music] they were working on certain
205. 8:52days and whether for the the supervisor
206. 8:56had written in their own journals did
207. 8:58match what [music] I was writing in
208. 8:59mine.
209. 9:00So, the judge did look for a lot of
210. 9:02points on the journal itself to make
211. 9:04sure that it was that I was writing the
212. 9:06truth.
213. 9:14Don't ever
214. 9:16ever
215. 9:17take a shortcut when it comes to safety.
216. 9:20You never know when it has the potential
217. 9:23of biting you.
218. 9:25Keep your journal always true.
219. 9:29It can become your very best friend.
220. 9:33Again, don't ever ever take shortcuts
221. 9:37when it comes [music] to safety.