'I'm not God,' AIM president says in response to workplace deaths at Saint John plant
CBC
"Shit happens in life," says Herb Black, president and owner of American Iron and Metal, the Saint John scrap yard where two workers have died in the past seven months.
"The people who say it never happens, nothing happens, are dreaming in 3D. It does happen, and we have to address all the variables, all the issues, to the best of our ability."
Black spoke with reporters at length in Saint John on Tuesday, addressing "a lot of curiosity about what transpired" leading to the deaths of the two workers at the west side metal recycling plant.
He blamed human error for the first death, a man whose name has not been public, and said he couldn't see how the more recent death, of Darrell Richards, could have been prevented.
"I've been in business for 62 years and I've never had anyone die until two years ago," said Black, 78. "I don't know how to prevent it at this juncture."
WATCH | 'He decides:' AIM owner explains who's responsible for worker safety
When asked who was responsible for safety at AIM, Black said, "You have to make a connection with the Lord and ask him. I'm not God. I don't decide."
Black later clarified that there are people whose job it is to carry out safety monitoring, but he declined to provide details specific to safety practices at AIM Atlantic.
He would not say whether safety rules were posted on the site or provide details about any personal protective equipment workers would have been wearing.
Black did share new information on the circumstances of the two deaths at AIM, which signed a 40-year-lease for its scrap yard with the Port of Saint John in 2002 and has since been the site of fires and dozens of loud explosions. There have been threats of legal action, and mayors, a member of Parliament, and community members have called for AIM's licence to be suspended.
In November, Black said, a truck driver died when his driver-side door became stuck and the worker decided "to go around and get out of the door on the right-hand side of the truck, which is completely blind."
Instead of walking around the front of the truck to signal to the crane operator, the worker then climbed between the tractor and the trailer and through a small hatch into the trailer.
He was killed, Black said, when the crane operator swept the truck out with a broom attachment.
"The crane operator had no idea that anybody was in that trailer," he said. "It was impossible to know. And he gets killed."