The wall of a sand pit at a western Quebec quarry was geotechnically “unsuitable” for the way it was being used and collapsed in 2018, burying an excavator and killing the worker trapped inside, according to an investigation by Quebec’s workplace standards, equity, health and safety commission.

The collapse and landslide happened at Ronald O’Connor Construction on Highway 105 in Farrellton, Que., on Nov. 1, 2018.

A worker — who CBC identified at the time as 31-year-old Daniel Dompierre of Bouchette, Que. — was extracting sand in an excavator that day, said a news release issued by the commission on Wednesday morning.

After filling a dump truck, he manoeuvred the excavator onto a sand pile in front of a wall to continue extracting sand.

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