Inquest ordered into death of worker at American Iron & Metal in Saint John
A coroner's inquest will be held next week into the death of a worker at American Iron & Metal in Saint John nearly two years ago.
Darrell Edward Richards, 60, was injured at the west side scrapyard on June 30, 2022. The married father of three died in hospital the next day.
The inquest will be held June 3-7 at the Saint John courthouse, starting at 9 a.m., with jury selection, the Department of Justice and Public Safety announced Monday.
Deputy chief coroner Michael Johnston and a jury will publicly hear evidence from witnesses to determine the facts surrounding Richards's death.
The jury will also have the opportunity to make recommendations aimed at preventing deaths under similar circumstances.
Company pled guilty in death
The inquest follows a court case earlier this year involving Richards's death and an unrelated workplace incident at the Point Lepreau nuclear plant in 2021.
American Iron & Metal was ordered in February to pay $107,000 to establish a workplace safety-focused scholarship at the New Brunswick Community College in the name of Richards, after the company changed its plea to guilty to two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The Saint John provincial court heard Richards was injured while straddling a large calender roll, a roller used in paper production, and cutting into it with a circular saw to strip material from the metal shaft.
"Approximately 3,750 pounds of material under at least 1,500 tons of pressure released with enough force to send pieces of material several feet into the air and dispersed across the job site," Judge Claude Haché said. "The release caused a deep laceration of Mr. Richards' groin area, severing his femoral artery and causing severe blood loss."
The inquest will be held at the Saint John Law Courts building. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
AIM initially faced four charges in connection with Richards's death. The charge AIM pleaded guilty to was failing to take every reasonable precaution to ensure the health and safety of any person having access or using that place of employment by failing to provide information on the hazards of a calender roll to Richards.
In connection with the unrelated Point Lepreau incident on Dec. 3, 2021, AIM also pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that an employee who is not a qualified person does not carry out any work that is liable to bring any person or object closer than 3.6 metres to an energized electrical utility line.
Each offence carries a maximum penalty of a $250,000 fine or six months in jail, or both.
The judge based his sentence on a joint recommendation by the Crown and defence for an "alternative sentence."
7 recommendations in previous death inquest
Richards was the second worker to die on the job at AIM in a seven-month period, causing an outcry from local politicians and residents.
Bruce Lagacé, 48, an employee of Deschênes Drilling, was crushed at the metal recycling plant on Nov. 24, 2021, when his trailer of scrap metal was being unloaded by an AIM crane operator.
A coroner's inquest held last year into his death resulted in seven recommendations, including that drivers not stay in their vehicle during offloading.
Operations at AIM's west Saint John site have remained suspended since September, when a massive fire burned for two days and prompted a city-wide shelter-in-place order because of hazardous smoke.
A coroner's inquest is not a criminal procedure and does not involve a finding of guilt or responsibility.
