Ontario's Ministry of Labour hasn't closed the books on its investigation into the death two months ago of a young contract worker at Algoma Steel, company officials confirmed on Friday.
"As always, I will begin my remarks by addressing what truly matters most to the safety and wellbeing of everyone at Algoma Steel," chief executive officer Michael Garcia said during a conference call with investors.
"During our last quarterly call, we updated you on the tragic fatality of a contract worker at Algoma Steel on June 15," Garcia said.
"The Ministry of Labour was notified and attended the site to conduct this investigation, which remains ongoing at Algoma.
"We believe in safety without compromise. And while our continued dedication has led to a significant improvement in our lost-time injury frequency rate over the past decade, we remain committed to creating a safe, zero-injury workplace."
Damien Bryant, a 21-year-old employee of GFL Environmental Inc. in Sudbury, was cleaning an out-of-service gas line at Algoma Steel before he lost consciousness and succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
GFL was hired by the steelmaker to perform specialized maintenance work at the plant.
"It was a young gentleman who was working for a contractor that we brought in for a specialized maintenance job that involved cleaning out a gas line that runs coke-oven gas from our coke ovens to our plate mill furnaces and provides energy to the furnaces to reheat our steel slabs before we roll them into plates," Garcia said days after the incident.
"We know the gentleman entered into the gas line, we don’t know exactly how far or for how long or for exactly what reason," he said at the time.
