A widow of one of the workers who plunged 13 storeys to their deaths at a Toronto highrise in 2009 told a coroner’s inquest in a statement she wants more to change to keep the industry safe.

The deaths of four workers after a swing stage gave way on Christmas Eve of that year sparked a sea change in how workers train and protect themselves at height.

“I hope you understand how great he was,” said Oksana Afanasenko, the wife of Aleksey Blumberg, in a statement read by coroner’s counsel, Jai Dhar. She said they had been married for just months when he was killed.

“I have a life after him. An amazing family. But it still hurts when I bump into the places or people that remind me of Alex, or when I see a swing stage downtown or flowers on construction sites because those guys still keep dying and it makes me cry. I hope you will do everything to change that tragedy,” she wrote.

Seventeen workers died on Ontario construction sites in 2009, according to the province’s Ministry of Labour. That rose to 22 in 2021, the figures show.

“Over the course of 12 years, that’s gone up. And you have to say to yourself, ‘what are we doing wrong?’ And, in my opinion, we are not doing proper inspections on workplaces,” said NDP Workplace Health and Safety Critic MPP Wayne Gates.

Fayzullo Fazilov, Alexsandrs Bondarevs, Vladimir Korostin, and Aleksey Blumberg died after the swing stage they were on suddenly collapsed on Christmas Eve in 2009.

The four men — all employed by Metron Construction — fell 13 storeys to the ground. Another worker was seriously injured, and a sixth — who was tethered, as required under provincial law — was left hanging in mid-air but wasn’t hurt.

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