‘Hopefully lessons were learned to prevent future tragedies’
A New Brunswick judge has dismissed a workplace safety charge against Coast Tire & Auto Service Ltd. in the 2024 death of Moncton tire technician Timothy Steeves.
The judge ruled that the Crown did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the company violated provincial occupational health and safety law, according to a CBC report.
Steeves, 41, died on Oct. 18, 2024, after a 454‑kilogram earth‑mover tire he was helping to unload tipped and fell on him at Coast Tire’s Baig Boulevard service centre in Moncton.
The company faced a single charge under New Brunswick’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, alleging it failed to provide appropriate equipment for moving oversize tires, as COS previously reported.
The case went to a two‑day trial in March, where Judge Jeff Lantz heard evidence from co‑workers, a transport‑truck driver and other witnesses, according to CBC.
Details of the incident
The fatal incident occurred when a large Goodyear tire, shipped upright and strapped against the interior wall of a transport‑truck trailer, was being rolled out toward the loading dock. As it approached the dock, the tire struck the ramp bridging the gap between the trailer and the bay, toppled and landed on Steeves. Co‑workers and the truck driver attempted resuscitation at the scene, but Steeves succumbed to his injuries.
CBC previously reported that Steeves was one of two workers rolling the 454‑kg tire.
In his decision, Lantz acknowledged the seriousness of the case. “A young man lost his life … and nothing decided here today will bring him back,” he said in court, as reported by CBC News. “However, hopefully lessons were learned to prevent future tragedies.”
The Crown argued that Coast Tire had not ensured suitable mechanical means were available to handle the large tire. However, Lantz said the testimony indicated there was no practical equipment that could have been used in light of how the tire was positioned inside the trailer, CBC reported. The court heard that while smaller tires in the same shipment were palletized and moved by forklift, the 454‑kg earth‑mover tire arrived standing upright and secured to the trailer wall.
Lantz also highlighted the regulatory response to the incident. He noted that WorkSafeNB did not issue any compliance orders to Coast Tire as a result of the fatality. “One would expect that if there were equipment available … that it would make its way into a written policy or compliance order,” he said, according to CBC.
On that basis, Lantz concluded the Crown had not met the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Coast Tire breached the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and he dismissed the charge. CBC News reported that Lantz, who usually sits in provincial court in Prince Edward Island, presided over the Moncton proceeding.
Lack of written policy
COS previously reported on evidence about Coast Tire’s practices and procedures. According to that report, the company’s human resources director testified that, at the time of Steeves’s death, Coast Tire did not have a written policy specifically addressing the unloading of large tires. She told the court that a written procedure was drafted the same day as the incident and later expanded into a more detailed protocol requiring four employees to roll an oversize tire: three in contact with the tire and a fourth guiding its movement.
Former assistant manager Derrick Fillmore also testified that Coast Tire preferred oversize tires to be shipped on pallets so they could be handled by forklift, but that shipping methods were set by manufacturers and carriers.
From an operational standpoint, Fillmore and another employee told the court the layout of the trailer made it difficult to manoeuvre a forklift inside, and rolling the upright tire was considered the only workable option, although one witness acknowledged another forklift with a bale‑clamp attachment could pick up tires from the side.
