Inquest into death of worker at Saint John scrapyard hears warning came too late

Justin Richards saw what he thought was a flock of birds shoot up in the sky the day his cousin, Darrell Richards was fatally injured working at the American Iron & Metal scrapyard in west Saint John.

But "the way it came down," he soon realized he was wrong, he told a coroner's inquest into Richards's death, fighting back tears.

"At that point, I knew it was Darrell's work location, so I told the yard, 'Has somebody got eyes on Darrell?'"

What he saw was material from the metal shaft of a calendar roll that Richards had been cutting.

The inquest heard Richards, a contractor, was fatally injured at the metal recycling plant on June 30, 2022, around 1:30 p.m., while stripping material from the roll.

These large cylinders are used in paper production. They weigh about 54,000 pounds, and the cotton material around them is held under 2,600 tonnes of pressure, said Michel Cyr, manager of investigations for WorkSafeNB.

Richards, 60, was sitting on the calender roll when he cut into it with a circular saw, said Cyr. The sudden release of energy severed his femoral artery and caused severe blood loss. He died in the hospital about 12 hours later.

Cyr played a short security video of the incident for the inquest, being held at the Saint John courthouse. It shows a distant silhouette of Richards working alone and then numerous pieces of blue material flying several feet into the air before being widely dispersed across the job site.

Several members of his family, who were seated in the front row, quietly wiped away tears. Jessica Bungay, a lawyer representing AIM, is also attending the proceedings.

Justin Richards, who works as an operator for AIM, testified he had been helping his cousin shortly before the incident.

Richards had already cut the length of the calender roll but the material failed to release, so he asked Justin to use a piece of machinery to pick up the calender roll and drop it on the ground six times to see if it would break free, he said.

That didn't work either so Richards "gave me direction on where he wanted it placed and then I went on with my day," sorting material.

It was when Richards attempted a second cut that the material released and struck him in the groin, causing his injuries, the inquest heard.

According to Cyr, American Iron & Metal in Maine called the Saint John facility about an hour later to explain how dangerous the calender rolls were and how best to process them.