Man died after falling from meters height: fine demanded against transport company

In February 2020, a man was seriously injured when he fell more than four meters while working in a warehouse of the company. The victim died of his injuries the next day.

‘Consequences taken for granted’
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the company “consciously created and accepted a risk and therefore also accepted the possible consequences.” The Ministry of Justice also believes that the company has failed to comply with the duty of care arising from the Working Conditions Act and the Working Conditions Decree on a number of points. For example, workplaces must be safe, accessible and safe to leave.

In the opinion of the Public Prosecution Service, that was not the case that 20 February in 2020. A so-called overhead door, which was supposed to be operated manually, was defective. It had been driven into and a guide wheel came loose. The victim wanted to open the door anyway, because a job on a truck was waiting in a shed behind it. The man wanted to open the door by climbing a ladder from the inside on top of the doorway. The victim then fell from a height of 4.5 meters and died the next day.

Safety measures taken
According to the OM, this could have been prevented. The company is also accused of not having a complete Risk Inventory and Evaluation (RIE) and Action Plan. New so-called overhead doors have now been installed in the shed and the company has taken safety measures.

Of course, the transport company did not want to intentionally harm its employees, but because of the way it worked, an accident was unavoidable, according to the Public Prosecution Service. The company knew that the door was not working and could imagine how this could affect day-to-day operations. The Public Prosecutor: “Nothing or at least insufficiently has been done with this knowledge. An incident like this cannot and should not be regarded as an accident, as something that happens to you and that no one can do anything about.”