Worker electrocuted at AvtoVAZ plant; three convicted

The Avtozavodsky District Court of Tolyatti announced the verdict in a criminal case against three employees of JSC AvtoVAZ. They were found guilty of violating safety rules — actions that led to a person«s death. The tragedy occurred in equipment repair shop No. 18/1.

\«As established by the court, an electrician was attempting to repair the contactor of an induction melting furnace and received fatal thermal burns from an electric arc. The cause was a short circuit due to a metal key coming into contact with live parts under voltage,\» the court reported.

The investigation, as told by representatives of the judicial body, revealed a whole chain of gross violations.

\«The supervisor knew that the subordinate lacked mandatory heat-resistant equipment but still allowed him to perform dangerous work. The master who issued the task left the repair site without formalizing the necessary work permit and left the worker unsupervised. The duty officer who performed the switching did not verify that the area was de-energized and then made a false entry in the log about the disconnection, creating a deadly trap,\» commented the Avtozavodsky District Court.

All three were tried under Part 2 of Article 216 of the Russian Criminal Code. The court imposed the following punishments:

• 1 year of forced labor with a 10% salary deduction and a ban on holding positions related to operational switching in electrical installations for 1 year;

• 1 year and 2 months of forced labor with a 10% salary deduction and a ban on working in the field of occupational safety control for 1 year and 4 months;

• 1 year and 2 months of forced labor with a 10% salary deduction and a ban on activities in the field of occupational safety provision for 1 year and 6 months.

The verdict has not yet entered into legal force and can be appealed.

In the fall, the prosecutor«s office of the Komsomolsky District of Tolyatti reported an emergency at another enterprise in the auto city. The agency reported an inspection of a plant processing plastic into secondary raw materials. The reason was a serious incident with an employee — his forearm was torn off.