AIM pleads not guilty to workplace safety charge

American Iron and Metal pleaded not guilty Monday to a workplace safety charge stemming from an incident at the Point Lepreau nuclear plant late last year.

AIM is facing acharge of failing to make sure all employees carrying out work are qualified.

The case follows an incident on Dec. 3, 2021, in Maces Bay, in which a boom, oran extendable arm, of a truck carrying recyclable materials came in contact with high-voltage lines.

WorkSafeNB spokesperson Laragh Dooley previously saidno one was injured.

Lawyer Dawson Harrison appeared on behalf of the metal-recycling company and entered a not guilty plea.

The case has been adjourned until Nov. 25, when lawyers will discuss trial dates.

According to the act, if found guilty, the company could face a maximum fine of $250,000.

No charges in 1 of 2 deaths at AIM

AIM has been under scrutiny for several years because of explosions at its west side scrapyard next to the harbour in Saint John, and because of deaths at the site.

Most recently, this July, employee Darrel Richards died from workplace injuries, the second person to die on the job at AIM within seven months.

The first person, who died in 2021, has not been publicly named. Dooley said Friday thatWorkSafeNB completed its investigation into the incident.

"The Crown concluded that there were no prosecutable offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act or regulations and therefore no charges will be laid," she said in an email.

The investigation into Richards's death continues, she said.

The charge related to the Maces Bay incident alleges AIM failed to make sure 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."

With the case before a court, no one from WorkSafecan be interviewed, Dooley said.