AIM president says company isn’t responsible for two workplace deaths in Saint John

The president of American Iron and Metal (AIM) says the company isn’t responsible for two workplace deaths over the past seven months at its Saint John recycling plant.

Herbert Black said he had “absolutely nothing to hide” in a news conference Tuesday, with questions mounting about the facility’s safety record and procedures.

Darrell Richards died on July 1, a day after being injured while working at the site.

In November 2021, an unnamed worker died from injuries sustained at the same location.

“I don’t see what my facility could’ve done to prevent it at this juncture,” said Black, in an at times heated and emotional exchange with reporters.

When Black was asked who was responsible for safety at the Saint John facility he said “You have to make a connection with the Lord and ask him. He decides. I’m not God.”

WorkSafeNB is conducting investigations of both incidents.

“So let the investigations go on, let them come up with the answers,” said Black.

Saint John city councillors carried a motion last week, calling on the provincial government to take action in addressing the recent incidents. Port Saint John holds the lease agreement with AIM.

Black said the November workplace death occurred when a truck driver tried to exit the vehicle on its right side because the driver’s side door was jammed. Black said a crane operator was sweeping the truck of materials at the same time.

“The crane operator had no idea anybody was in that truck, in that trailer. Impossible to know. And he gets killed,” said Black.

“And do you know what it is for that crane operator to live with that for the rest of his life? Do you have any idea? You want to fault the procedures of the crane operator? You want to fault the procedures of AIM? You want to fault that we’re not doing a professional job after having a million trucks unloaded that way?”

“Accidents happen no matter how much prevention you have. If you would tell me somebody is going to crawl in the back of the trailer while it’s being unloaded and come out of a door because the other door is locked, it’s just unbelievable.”

Black invited Krista Collins, the daughter-in-law of Darrell Richards, to speak at Tuesday’s news conference.

“At 60-years-old, he was not ready to go, he had a lot of life left to live,” said Collins. “Darrell would never put himself in harms way. He was not the kind of person that would put himself in an unsafe work environment.”

Collins said part of the reason she wanted to speak was to denounce misinformation circulating in the community, particularly on social media, about the incident.

“He was cutting a paper roll that had paper on it,” said Collins. “As he made the second cut through, he had already made one complete cut, something caused the roll to decompress. I wouldn’t call it an explosion. It wasn’t ignited. There were no burns. There was nothing of that nature. It was just a laceration to the leg that caused the bleeding.”

In a statement earlier this month, WorkSafeNB said a stop-work order had been issued for the piece of equipment related to the incident on June 30 — a press roller for the preparation of recycling.

“Even though I can’t speak for AIM I can speak for the people who work there,” said Collins. “They’re good people. Right now it’s difficult because of the pressure that’s put on AIM with everything that’s going on for these people to go to the grocery store wearing an AIM shirt. Because the general population is looking at AIM like it’s a bad place. And it’s not fair to the people who work there.”

In addition to stop-work orders, WorkSafeNB said it had the ability to shut down any facility if unsafe or unhealthy working conditions were observed without acceptable controls in place, or if investigators weren’t allowed to gather evidence after an incident.

WorkSafeNB said both workplace deaths are active investigations and may take a year or more to complete with the possibility of charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations.

New Brunswick’s Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour said the province’s license approval for AIM is related solely to environmental requirements and “would not factor into a workplace incident of this nature.”