Yekaterinburg Plant Crane Accident Kills Woman; Workshop Head on Trial

In Yekaterinburg, the trial has begun for the workshop head of a major Ural plant, where a crane operator died last June. This was reported by lawyer Ruslan Sulnatgulov, who represents the victims« side—the relatives of the deceased.

We previously reported this tragic story. Nasiya Grigoryan was an honored worker at Uralmash, having worked there for 40 years and was a specialist of the highest grade. She was crushed by a crane that was being operated by a remote control operator. This happened as Nasiya was making her way up the rail tracks to the cabin of her crane.

The crane operator was just short of reaching her cabin—the worker operating the mechanism from below simply did not see her. The woman died before the ambulance arrived from severe combined injuries to her head, neck, and internal organs.

The accident was investigated by a commission of Rostechnadzor (the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological, and Nuclear Supervision). Experts identified violations in work organization and labor safety, for which several managers are responsible. The tragedy was preceded by a whole chain of circumstances. It became known that ordinary employees were forced to violate instructions due to unsatisfactory organization of safe labor. The crane operator who was controlling the mechanism is not to blame for the accident—he simply could not see the crane operator.

Parallel to the departmental investigation, 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 through negligence»).

In the criminal case, there is ultimately one accused—the workshop head where Nasiya worked. According to the investigation, he is responsible for the violations that led to the tragedy.

The prosecutor«s office approved the indictment, and the case was transferred to court. The punishment under this article is a fine of up to 400,000 rubles (approximately $4,400 at current rates) or forced labor for up to three years with a ban on holding certain positions. The maximum punishment is imprisonment for up to three years.

According to the victims, only the defendant«s side was present at the first court hearing.

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

She also said that through a representative, she was offered a settlement between the parties and compensation payment. But they insisted that the criminal case go to court and that the guilty be held accountable.

Elena also explained why she disagrees with the investigation«s conclusions. She is convinced that one person cannot be to blame for everything:

«According to the conclusions of the Rostechnadzor commission, four individuals, managers, were identified who are responsible for the safe organization of labor. But ultimately, the investigator considered that these individuals were not involved in the situation, and only one workshop head is 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 full responsibility for all production control, including over his own managers. We will attend the court hearing to convey our position and have the case sent back for additional investigation to expand the circle of accused,« said Nasiya»s daughter.

We have previously reported in detail on the conclusions of the Rostechnadzor commission that investigated the tragedy, and also published a detailed comment from PJSC Uralmashzavod.