The company responsible for building Montreal’s REM light rail has violated multiple health and safety regulations during the construction of the railway that put workers at risk, according to reports issued by Quebec’s occupational health and safety commission (CNESST).

The FTQ union representing construction workers says there have been concerns since the beginning of the project, which was contracted to construction and engineering firm NouvLR in 2018.

“It’s been so many years that we’ve been fighting with those issues with the CNESST and they’ve been on job sites, but many times the employer just doesn’t listen,” FTQ general manager Eric Boisjoly told CTV in an interview.

According to one of two CNESST reports obtained by CTV News, the CNESST began an investigation two days after learning about the runaway of an untethered piece of rolling stock.

The document says that on Sept. 5, 2022, the equipment “drifted onto one of the tracks on the Samuel-de-Champlain Bridge towards the Ile-des-Soeurs station,” then picked up speed and ran into a signaling switch while travelling at 50 km/h.

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