Trial of Workshop Supervisor for Death of Worker at Plant

In Yekaterinburg, a trial has begun against the workshop supervisor of a major Ural plant, where a crane operator died in June last year. This was reported by lawyer Ruslan Sultangulov, representing the interests of the deceased«s relatives.

Nasiya Grigoryan was an honorary worker at Uralmash, with 40 years of experience and the highest qualification. Her death resulted from an incident with a crane that was operated via remote control. The woman was heading along the rail tracks to her cabin when she was crushed by the mechanism.

The crane operator did not notice Grigoryan, and she died before the ambulance arrived from multiple injuries to the head, neck, and internal organs.

An investigation by Rostekhnadzor (the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision) revealed violations in occupational safety organization, for which several managers were responsible. The commission found that employees were forced to violate instructions due to poor safety organization.

The crane operator is not guilty, as he physically could not see the victim.

Concurrently, a criminal case was initiated under Part 2 of Article 217 of the Russian Criminal Code («Violation of industrial safety requirements at hazardous production facilities, resulting in death by negligence»).

Only one person is accused in the criminal case—the workshop supervisor where Nasiya worked. According to the investigation, his inaction led to the tragedy.

The prosecutor«s office approved the indictment, and the case was transferred to court. The penalty under this article provides for a fine of up to 400,000 rubles (about $5,300 at current rates), compulsory labor for up to three years, or imprisonment for the same term.

According to relatives, only the defendant«s side was present at the first court hearing, which they consider a violation of their rights.

«The judge, right before the New Year holidays, set the hearing date for January 12, early in the morning. Only the prosecution was notified, and we were not informed, thereby, in my opinion, violating our rights,» stated Elena Grigoryan, the deceased«s daughter.

She also said that through a representative, she was offered a reconciliation of the parties and payment of compensation. However, the family insisted on continuing the criminal case and holding the guilty accountable.

Elena Grigoryan explained why she disagrees with the investigation«s conclusions. She is sure that one person cannot bear all the responsibility.

«According to the conclusions of the Rostekhnadzor commission, four individuals, managers, were identified who are responsible for the safe organization of work. But ultimately, the investigator considered that these individuals were not involved in the situation, and only the workshop supervisor was involved. And he was made the scapegoat. Yes, he also ignored his job duties, but I believe there is also a more global systemic error that needs to be corrected. One person could not foresee everything, take complete control of production, including over his own managers. We will attend the court hearing to present our position and have the case sent back for further investigation to expand the circle of accused,» said Nasiya«s daughter.