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On July 21, three employees of the Vilniaus Vandenys company were killed during the planned repair works of the water supply networks in the village of Tuščiauliai, Vilnius district. According to preliminary data, during the planned installation of the gas pipeline, an employee was poisoned with gas and lost consciousness, two of his colleagues went down the well to rescue a man and were also poisoned with gas accumulated in the pipeline.
Rescuers who arrived pulled the men out to a depth of about four meters, tried to resuscitate them, but failed to save lives. Workers ages 51, 53 and 65 died.
He has reproaches and company
The State Labor Inspectorate has already issued its conclusions on this disaster. They claim that one of the causes of the accident is “the inadequacy of the company’s internal control in matters of safety and health at work.” Likewise, “the level of implementation of the technical security of the works and the control of compliance with the security level was insufficient”.
The SLI further states that “the supervisor did not control the Contractor’s actions while participating in the hazardous works process and did not pay attention to the emergency situation at the site, ignored warnings about the danger in the well, landed in the well to carry out rescue operations without personal safety measures “.
Marius Švaikauskas, head of the Vilniaus Vandenys company, who distributed the press release, states in it that he feels obliged to do everything possible so that it does not happen again in the company.
Mutual responsibility
“Vilniaus Vandenys received an investigation from the State Labor Inspectorate (VDI) and the findings of the Chief State Labor Inspector on the death of three Vilniaus Vandenai employees. Vilniaus Vandenys will take responsibility for the disaster, but does not agree with the SLI’s conclusions.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / On the scene
VDI specialists stated that three employees of the company in 2020. He died on July 21 in a water well due to lack of oxygen. The workers did not use equipment to warn of oxygen deficiency or gas build-up when going up the well, although they were provided with this protective equipment.
Due to the accident, SLI specialists declared the mutual responsibility of the deceased employer and employees, ”the Vilniaus Vandenai report reads.
It also points out that “the VDI specialists point out in the conclusions that they may see non-compliance of some company procedures with occupational safety standards, lack of internal control, but they acknowledge that the accident was caused by irresponsible actions of the employees and conclude that the brigade, the senior locksmith and the senior engineer who were responsible for the execution and control on the day of the accident, did not themselves observe the safety of the work and did not use the available safety measures ”.
Due to the accident, VDI specialists declared the mutual responsibility of the deceased employer and employees.
Disagree with everything
“As the head of this company, I regret the disaster, once again I apologize to the families of the victims for not having been able to save lives. For my part, I can only repeat what I have already said: together with the team we are doing and will do everything possible to prevent a painful disaster from happening again in the company. We have already taken many additional preventive actions and safety measures ”, quotes M. Švaikauskas, Managing Director of Vilniaus Vandenai.
The company claims to have thoroughly reviewed the safety measures available, the flow of investments in employee safety, reassessed each risk step by step, and analyzed in detail the details of hazardous work and the preparation of employees for them. Workers are also reminded daily after the disaster of the need to protect themselves.
Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Marius Švaikauskas
“I assure you that the company will not shirk its responsibilities. However, after receiving the conclusions from the VDI specialists and the Chief Labor Inspector, we cannot unequivocally agree with them, – says M. Švaikauskas. – In In most cases, we see a formal approach by assessing only compliance with internal company procedures, security measures, instructions with security regulations, but not actual efforts to accurately restore the circumstances of the incident and identify the causes of the accident.
The conclusions do not take into account what we consider a fundamental detail that the safety devices – including the life-saving gas analyzer – were available to the deceased workers, although they were not used on the day of the accident. And it caused a painful disaster. “
The company will not shirk its responsibilities. However, having received the SLI’s conclusions, we cannot unequivocally agree with them, said M. Švaikauskas.
Consider going to court
Vilniaus Vandenys also approached the Chief State Labor Inspector to clarify the findings. This request from the company was not taken into account, so Vilniaus Vandenys does not rule out the possibility of appealing them to court.
However, according to M. Švaikauskas, this decision will not change the promise made on the day of the disaster to the families of the victims due to the concern and care of the company. Without waiting for the SLI’s conclusions, three months after the accident, Vilniaus Vandenys paid compensation to the families of the victims, and the next of kin received the attention of the company’s representatives for the holidays.
15min requested a comment from VDI, but we have not received it yet, we hope to add information in the near future.
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