Turner said they would normally use bolts to attach a piece of 2×6 lumber to the posts on the side of the bridge, but they didn’t have the bolts and it was near the end of the day. So they used zip ties and wire to get the boards in place. The plan was to shut it down properly the next morning, “but it was just ignored,” Turner said Tuesday, the first day of a three-day coroner’s inquest into Martin’s death. He said no one mentioned the bolts the next day.
The worker fell backwards
At approximately 1:15 p.m. on August 28, 2019, the two men took a break and Turner walked off the bridge. He said Martin walked to the side of the bridge, “put his weight” on the rail and fell backwards. Turner said Martin was knocked unconscious and when he regained consciousness, he “kept yelling … ‘Eric Turner, help me’” over and over. Turner said he held Martin’s hand until an ambulance arrived. Reima Martin, left, the widow of James Martin, and his daughter Holly Jones leave Burton Crown Court, where an inquest into Martin’s death opened on Tuesday. (Jon Collicott/CBC) Martin died as a result of injuries sustained in the fall. At the time of the accident, he was working at the Department of Transport and Infrastructure. The department was fined $125,000 in July 2020 after pleading guilty to violating workplace safety regulations by failing to provide safe guardrails that would have prevented Martin from falling to his death. The three-day inquest into Martin’s death is being held at Barton Court, near Oromocto, with presiding Coroner Emily Caissy overseeing the proceedings. A five-member jury was selected Tuesday morning and began hearing witnesses at 10:30 a.m. The first witness was Michel Cyr, a researcher at WorkSafeNB. He explained to jurors that he began his investigation after police finished at the scene. Scheer said Martin fell 10 feet from the bridge to a pile of large rocks below. He showed jurors photos of the scene contained in his report. The photos included a broken piece of 2×6 where Martin had fallen. He also showed them the other side of the bridge and close-ups of where the board was attached to seven posts — some with zip ties and some with wire. None of this, Cyr said, was done properly under the law.
No risk assessment was done
Those “bump rails,” he said, were never meant to sit. They are intended as a warning barrier and are required for work spaces that are greater than 1.2 meters. Cyr said Department of Transportation officials also did not complete a risk assessment form, as required for such projects. Cyr’s report contained a conclusion section, but Caissy asked him to withdraw and submit that part later. Other witnesses were expected to testify Tuesday afternoon. Under the Coroner’s Act, an inquest is held when a worker dies as a result of an accident that occurred while working in a forestry operation, sawmill, timber processing plant, food processing plant, fish processing plant, construction site, mining plant or mine, including a pit or quarry. The jury will have the opportunity to suggest ways to prevent similar deaths. The procedure does not establish legal liability.
