Landscaper electrocuted while trimming a hedge in Auteuil

A landscaping company worker was taken in serious condition to hospital Saturday after accidentally being electrocuted while trimming a cedar hedge at a private residence in Laval’s Auteuil neighbourhood.

The 47-year-old man was using a trimmer mounted on a long pole around 1:30 pm. While standing on a ladder and reaching towards the top of the hedge, he failed to see a high-tension electric wire, was electrocuted after coming into contact, and fell to the ground.

Police and ambulance technicians responded to the scene. Quebec’s Committee on Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work in Quebec (CNESST), which investigates workplace accidents, has opened a file and will eventually issue a report.