Inquest into death at AIM scrapyard ends with 4 recommendations from jury
Darrell Richards died after being injured at the Saint John site in June 2022
A coroner's inquest into the death of a worker at the American Iron & Metal scrapyard in Saint John nearly two years ago has ended in four recommendations focused on safety, communication, purchasing and inspection to try to prevent future deaths or injuries.
The jury came up with the recommendations after deliberating for about three hours on the testimony of 16 witnesses regarding the fatal injury Darrell Richards sustained at the west-side metal recycling facility on June 30, 2022.
Richards, a contractor, was tasked with stripping pressurized material from calender rolls — large metal cylinders used in paper production. The rolls weigh more than 24,000 kilograms and are covered with cotton material held under 2,600 tonnes of pressure.
The 60-year-old was sitting on one of the pressurized rolls when he cut into it with a circular saw. The sudden release of energy severed his femoral artery and caused severe blood loss. The married father of three died in the hospital about 12 hours later of multiple organ failure due to blood loss.
"We feel AIM New Brunswick has made a reasonable attempt to increase and improve safety awareness," the jury foreperson read aloud for the Saint John courtroom, as members of Richards's family listened attentively from the front row. "Continuation of appropriate training, certifications and supervision is a priority and compliant with WorkSafeNB."
Communication must be initiated by AIM headquarters and distributed throughout all AIM satellite sites, she said. "Employee communication is a valuable tool to help prevent workplace accidents."
When it comes to purchasing scrap metal, the jury recommends AIM research all suppliers. This includes requesting appropriate credentials and conducting a background check.
AIM should also request a description of the materials, and an "indication of hazards pertaining to the products," the foreperson said.
In addition, AIM should implement a hazardous inspection program in New Brunswick to aid in the identification process, and continue to quarantine hazardous materials and label them accordingly until appropriate documentation is obtained with an approved safe-work procedure, the jury said.
Family reacts
Outside the courthouse, Richards's daughter-in-law Kelsey Bailey told reporters she was surprised the jury felt AIM was "in accordance and following safety measures and changing safety measures when it was clearly identified that they had not done that in some instances, where they had absolutely not followed recommendations made by their own safety specialist."
Stephanie Spinney, AIM's health and safety adviser, testified she helped develop a hazard identification program after Richards's death, but it was never implemented because her superiors felt it was "too robust."
The family was shocked by that new evidence, said Bailey.
"Our hope is that there is real change going forward and that this never happens to another family," she said. "That's the only thing that we can get a positive out of this."
The jury's recommendations are not binding, noted deputy chief coroner Michael Johnston. The relevant agencies will have about six months to review them, and respond, he said.
Considering lawsuit
The family is considering suing AIM, said Bailey. Despite the inquest and previous trial, where the company changed its plea to guilty under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and was sentenced to pay $107,000 to establish a workplace safety-focused scholarship at the New Brunswick Community College in the name of Richards, the family feels "no one took responsibility for Darrell's death."
Richards's widow Bessie Collins said she feels like they were "just kicked to the side" after he was killed.
"There's no other way to look at it. Not for me," she said, noting Richards was the sole earner of the family and now she's left with just half his pension as a widow's pension.
"So you're in a tight spot when you have illnesses like I have, and my benefits are running out for my health coverage," said Collins, who has double lung cancer and just had an emergency pacemaker put in last week.
'Everybody loved him'
Although it was difficult for the family to relive the details of Richards's death at the inquest, it felt good to hear all his colleagues speak so highly of him, "and that they knew he was there for them anytime they wanted him," his widow said.
"Even if he was home, they would call him and ask him, 'What's the right way?' And Darrell would say, 'I'll be there.' And he would go in and show them the right way, just to save them."
Collins hopes people will remember what a "funny, good person" her husband of 43 years was.
"He was a social butterfly. Everybody loved him. And he never had a bad word to say about anybody," she said.
"And if he seen a young person just starting a job, didn't know what they were doing, he'd pull them back and say, 'No, no. First you're going to learn how, and always think of safety first.'"
Theme of 'communication'
In his instructions to the jury, the deputy chief coroner noted a theme of "communication" was heard throughout the inquest — "particularly hazard communication.
"There seemed to be a breakdown between the place where these things came from," the AIM plant in Maine, "where they were known to be hazardous, to workers that were actually completing the work at the end of the day" in Saint John, said Johnston.
Richards was "reportedly straddling the roll while cutting, indicating he was clearly not aware of the potentially hazardous energy," he said.
"Debris was spotted flying through the air, which alerted teams that something happened."
The inquest heard Tuesday that an AIM official in Maine said he warned at least three Saint John employees about the dangers associated with the calender rolls before Richards was killed. But when Michel Cyr, WorkSafeNB's manager of investigations, was recalled to the stand Wednesday, he testified he was unable to verify that statement from Verne "Joe" Reynolds, the buyer for AIM in Oakland.
"All three of them denied that conversation," said Cyr, referring to Ryan Cyr, director of operations, Adam Wallace, then-production supervisor, and Adam Hamilton.
Meanwhile, Reynolds failed to provide any phone records to substantiate his claim, he said.