Jury at inquest into death at AIM scrapyard begins deliberations

The jury has begun its deliberations for a coroner's inquest into the death of a worker at the American Iron & Metal scrapyard in Saint John nearly two years ago.

Deputy chief coroner Michael Johnston delivered his instructions to the jury at the Saint John courthouse Wednesday morning after 16 witnesses testified over two days regarding the death of Darrell Richards at the west side metal recycling facility.

Richards, a contractor, was tasked on June 30, 2022, 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.

"I think … the theme that we heard throughout this inquest was a theme about communication, particularly hazard communication," Johnston said as part of his summary of the evidence for the five-member jury.

"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.

Richards was "reportedly straddling the roll while cutting, indicating he was clearly not aware of the potentially hazardous energy," he said.

The inquest is a "fact-finding mission," not a criminal trial or civil lawsuit, Johnston reminded the jury.

"Therefore I'm instructing you that you may not express any conclusion of civil or criminal responsibility and are prohibited from naming any person or persons responsible for any act or omission which may have contributed to the death of Mr. Richards."

The jurors must determine when, where, how and by what means Richards came to his death. 

Johnston also urged them to "consider seriously" making recommendations aimed at preventing future deaths or injuries in similar circumstances.

Earlier in the morning, the inquest heard WorkSafeNB asked if they could send the remaining calender rolls to the manufacturer, Adritz North America, to decommission.

"They said because they've been outside, exposed to the weather, that they would probably be too hazardous to transport," Michel Cyr, WorkSafeNB's manager of investigations, testified.

For now, the calender rolls remain under a stop-work order and under rubber blast mats, "out of an abundance of precaution," he said.