HR director testifies company had no written policy specifically addressing the unloading of large tires
A 41‑year‑old tire technician was crushed by a 454‑kilogram tire he was rolling out of a transport‑truck trailer at a Moncton service centre, a New Brunswick provincial court has heard.
CBC reported that the worker, Timothy Steeves, died on Oct. 18, 2024 at Coast Tire & Auto Service Ltd.’s Baig Boulevard location after the large tire tipped and fell on him.
Coast Tire is on trial under New Brunswick’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, accused of failing to provide appropriate equipment for moving oversize tires. The charge alleges the company did not ensure suitable mechanical means were available to handle the earth‑mover tire involved in the incident, according to the report.
‘The biggest one’
Armour Transportation truck driver Michel Bourque testified he had delivered a shipment of tires to the site on the day of the fatality. He reversed his truck to the loading bay, where Steeves unloaded a smaller tire that had been secured on a pallet and moved with a forklift.
A much larger Goodyear tire, weighing roughly 454 kg, had been shipped standing upright and strapped against the interior wall of the trailer rather than on a pallet. “That was probably the biggest one that I delivered to Coast Tire,” Bourque said, according to CBC.
Bourque told the court that Steeves said he would not use a forklift to move the larger tire and instead intended to roll it out of the trailer. As the tire rolled toward the dock, it struck the ramp bridging the gap between the trailer and the loading bay, then toppled and landed on Steeves.
Bourque, who knew Steeves from earlier deliveries, testified that he tried to lift the tire but could not move it because of its weight. He shouted for help as other workers ran to the scene. Surveillance video of the loading area, played in court, showed the tire appearing in the open trailer doorway before tipping over, with employees rushing towards the fallen worker, CBC reported. “They’re the ones that all tried to save Tim,” Bourque testified.
Who controls shipping methods?
The Crown called seven witnesses on Tuesday, according to the report. Former assistant manager Derrick Fillmore testified that Coast Tire preferred oversize tires to arrive on pallets so they could be moved by forklift, but shipping methods were controlled by manufacturers and carriers. “That’s the way the manufacturer shipped it,” he said of the tire that crushed Steeves.
Fillmore told the court the tire was designed for “earth‑mover equipment.” He also said he relied on his volunteer firefighter experience to assess Steeves and perform CPR until Moncton firefighters and paramedics arrived, CBC noted.
From an operational perspective, Fillmore testified that the configuration of the trailer made it difficult to manoeuvre a forklift inside. He was one of two employees who said rolling the upright tire was considered the only practical way to move it given the space constraints. “There was really no way to get a forklift in the trailer,” Fillmore said, according to CBC.
Another employee, Francis Hibbs, similarly told the court that the tire’s position created problems for forklift access. Under cross‑examination, he acknowledged that another forklift fitted with a “bale clamp” attachment could pick up tires from the side, CBC reported.
Policies on large‑tire unloading and next steps
Coast Tire’s human resources director, Shirley Mitchell, testified the company had no written policy specifically addressing the unloading of large tires at the time of Steeves’s death. She said a written procedure was drafted the same day. “We put together what the normal process is but have since created a much more detailed procedure,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell told the court the updated procedure requires four employees to roll an oversize tire: three in direct contact with the tire and a fourth guiding the movement.
Defence lawyer James LeMesurier asked several witnesses whether the decision to roll the oversize tire out of the trailer was made by Steeves rather than directed by management.
Judge Jeff Lantz, who usually sits in Prince Edward Island, is presiding over the Moncton trial. He denied a request from Crown prosecutor Gabin Kabou to qualify a WorkSafeNB employee as an expert in ergonomics. After that ruling, Kabou said the Crown had no further witnesses to call that day.
