Jury Makes Recommendations To Improve Safety At Quarry, Asphalt Operations

A New Brunswick jury has made several recommendations to improve the safety of people working in quarry and asphalt operations.

From November 3 to 4 in Saint John, a mandatory coroner’s inquest has held into the death of Donald Hawkes.

“The inquest was held under Section 7(b) of the Coroners Act, which states a coroner shall hold an inquest when a worker dies as a result of an accident occurring in the course of his or her employment at or in a woodland operation, sawmill, lumber processing plant, food processing plant, fish processing plant, construction project site, mining plant or mine, including a pit or quarry,” reads a release from the provincial government.

It continues to state, “An inquest is a formal court proceeding that allows for the public presentation of all evidence relating to a death. It does not make any finding of legal responsibility, nor does it assign blame. However, recommendations can be made aimed at preventing deaths under similar circumstances in the future.”

Hawkes died in 2017 from injuries sustained during his employment at Springhill Infrastructure in Fredericton.

The five-member jury heard from 15 witnesses during the inquest and made several recommendations.

The recommendations include:

• Install a bubble mirror at the batch plant site to aid truck drivers and pedestrians by eliminating blind spots.
• Implement a pre-startup safety inspection audit or assessment by a trained, competent person for industrial and public service sites.
• Mandate a program to assess fitness for duty.
• Employers should provide fit-for-duty training for front line supervisors.