Why Algoma Steel was slapped with two new sets of ministry charges

Algoma Steel has some future court dates marked on its calendar.

As SooToday's Kenneth Armstrong reported this week, the city's biggest employer was recently charged by two different ministries for two different reasons.

On April 4, the Ministry of Environment laid two charges against the company in connection with an unspecified spill that occurred "on or about June 17, 2022" — eight days after an oil spill on the St. Marys River made headlines on both sides of the border.

Among the two charges is an allegation that the company failed to notify the ministry about the spill, a violation of Section 92 of the Environmental Protection Act.

One month later, on May 2, the Ministry of Labour laid three charges against Algoma Steel in connection with the death of 21-year-old Damien Bryant, a contract worker for GFL Environmental Inc. who was killed at the plant in June 2023.

Laid under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the three charges allege that Algoma Steel failed "as an employer to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the health and safety of a worker," and failed to ensure that two specific regulations regarding "confined space entry" were "complied with."

Algoma Steel declined to comment on both sets of charges. None of the allegations have been tested in court.

You can read more about the charges HERE and HERE.