Julia was crushed to death on the job at Tarkett in Ronneby

He put in traction on Tarkett in Ronneby

Of: Sara milstead

Published: October 12, 2020 at 8:01 a.m.

RONNEBY. Pregnant Julia, 24, was overjoyed before her first visit to the midwife.

But she couldn’t experience the joy of being a mother.

On November 2, 2018, he did the night shift at Tarkett in Ronneby.

He never came home again.

Tomb candles still glow at the memorial site near the entrance to Julias Mannersen’s former workplace.

Soon enough, two years ago, he walked through the gates of Tarkett for the last time. She came to work happy and expectant: on Monday, she and her partner Eric were going on their first visit to the birthing center.

They had also planned to take a tour of the house together.

In short, he had everything to live for that night.

But nothing turned out as expected.

Her parents, Inger and Jimmy, still have a hard time talking about the last few hours the family spent together. The memory slots are large, only fragments remain.

It was the same Friday night and Julia was on the parents’ couch at Ronneby’s house where we are now sitting.

Soon his shift would begin and he would work until 06:00 in the morning. The workplace, Tarkett, is the dominant employer in the area. It is also the same company that Daddy Jimmy proudly worked for for over 30 years.

Julia still hadn’t given him the good news. It would be a surprise on Christmas Eve.

– I remember they played it, I knew I was pregnant. He asked where we would celebrate Christmas, says Inger.

– The last thing Jimmy said to him before he left was: Work safely.

Last call

Julia left and had contact with her partner, Eric, during the night.

– We spoke for the last time around 02. We said we loved each other, as we used to do, and we hung up, says Eric.

Sambon went to bed. At 05:30 he was awakened by the phone ringing again.

– It was Julia’s mother who called, said that there had been an accident at work and that not much is known. He said he would pick me up at the apartment.

Memories of the trip to the hospital fade. But Eric has a very clear image to his eyes.

– There are two entrances, one to the emergency room and one to the delivery. And I remember very strongly that everything was wrong. It was after the delivery that we went.

His voice is shaky and fragile. He met an ambulance nurse who came in with Julia.

– I didn’t understand what had happened. I asked him how Julia was doing, she looked me deep in the eyes and said, Eric, Julia is no longer alive.

– Then I don’t remember anything at all, more than that we said goodbye.

Squeezing between rollers

Everyone around Julia was suddenly caught in a surreal nightmare. It turned out that she was trapped in a tractor inside the Tarkett factory.

For unknown reasons, she had been crushed to death between two large rubber rollers. This during a work step where you would take a measurement of a carpet, which was drawn through the work.

There were no barricades around the dangerous machine, despite the factory’s own impact assessment showing that the recall was a possible risk, and despite a similar accident that occurred only a few weeks earlier. Then an employee put his hand on the drawbar.

The company management was content to put up a warning sign. It was also not possible to reach the emergency stop from the machine.

Even today, almost two years later, it is still unclear what happened to Julia. Although Jimmy was employed by Tarkett at the time, no one heard from him to talk about what had happened, or just to find out how he was doing.

– Everyone else was offered psychotherapy, but not Jimmy, says Inger.

After the fatal accident, the Swedish Work Environment Authority came out and did an investigation. The tractor Julia was working with was stopped for a couple of weeks until the deficiencies around safety were corrected. The authority also considered that the case could be the result of negligence and recommended prosecution.

The machine in question is now equipped with gates, which prevent anyone from approaching the rollers. The question, however, is how much has fundamentally changed. Despite the fatal accident, there is still a mirror at the factory entrance with the text “Responsible for safety”.

Research is in place

At the time of writing, Julia’s case is with Prosecutor Christer Forssman of the National Unit for Workplace Environmental and Environmental Targets. He has not yet decided whether to prosecute.

– The preliminary investigation is still ongoing. I have not made any decisions on that issue. I am waiting for a written basis to make decisions from the outside. But it is my wish that I can do this throughout the year, he says.

For relatives, the fight is now about Julia getting some kind of redress. Perhaps your accident could prevent the death of someone else.

– The only thing you can do now is learn from this so it doesn’t happen again. Julia will never come back, says Eric.

It is still difficult for him, two years later, to accept that she is no longer here.

– I can wake up and think I’m in a fucking horrible nightmare, he says.

Every day he goes to his grave and talks to him.

– I realize I can’t do it in my whole life, but right now it feels good.

Inger and Jimmy also live with pain as a constant shadow.

– Immediately after the accident we went to the cabin in the field and raked. Sometimes the rake was backwards, I didn’t know what I was doing, says Jimmy.

After a while, he felt compelled to resign from Tarkett, as he felt neither the company nor the union, IF Metall, supported him.

Almost everyone who lives in Ronneby has some connection to the factory, which made the first time after death even heavier.

– We couldn’t buy at Ronneby. Instead, we went to Karlshamn, Karlskrona or Tingsryd, says Inger.

Jimmy nods and looks out the window.

– Many around here work in the factory. Some hardly say hello, it is difficult for them to talk about it, he says and sighs.

– We miss her so much it’s inconceivable. Still. Every day, and always will.

Aftonbladet has reached out to Tarkett’s site manager, Pierre Latourre, for a comment without receiving a response. For Blankspot, who previously reported on Julia’s death, Tarkett’s management has said they will not be interviewed about what happened while a preliminary investigation is under way. The group’s management in Paris also refers to the ongoing police investigation and states on the spot that they fully cooperate with the Swedish police and the Swedish Work Environment Authority.

Published: October 12, 2020 at 08:01