The Criminal Court 5 Almeria has condemned two businessmen for not taking the necessary measures to prevent the accident suffered by an employee who suffered the burst of a fuel tank where he was working with a grinder, who has been incapacitated due to the explosion.
The ruling, to which EFE has had access, indicates that the defendants are the joint administrators of a El Ejido (Almería) dedicated to the production of hot and cold asphalt, as well as its spreading in different works.
It specifies that the victim She was hired to work as a machinery operator from September 4, 2017 to March 3, 2018.
Component control
Among the functions of the worker were the component control for the manufacture of hot mix asphalt and other plant operations, earthworks and “small jobs” for maintenance and repair of equipment and machinery.
Specifies that on January 26, 2018, around 11:00 a.m. The victim was at his workplace, where he was cutting the top of an iron tank used to store fuel with a grinder.
A tank with a capacity for 2,287 liters of fuel oil and that at that time it contained 158 liters of this product inside, as well as vapors of said fuel, which caused it to explode upon contact with the sparks emitted by the grinder.
The ruling emphasizes that the accident occurred because the accused They did not provide the injured party with mandatory training in occupational risk prevention, in addition to not providing him with safety documentation on the residual fuel oil, since they did not inform him of the contents of the tank, which had not been subject to the mandatory periodic inspections or It had danger signs.
This caused the worker to be unaware of the safety measures. cautionalthough when the accident occurred he was wearing safety boots, work overalls, a reflective vest and cloth and plastic gloves.
Underwent surgery
Despite all this, he had to be intervened surgically on four occasions and it took 700 days to heal, although he has had after-effects that affect his nervous system and senses such as sight and hearing, in addition to now presenting facial asymmetry and scars in different parts of his body.
A sum of consequences that causes “a loss of quality “very serious life condition” and for which he has been recognized as having absolute permanent incapacity for any type of work.
Due to these events, the defendants have been sentenced to individual sentences of one and a half years in prison for a crime against workers’ rights, for which each of them will have to compensate the injured party with 100,000 euros.
When issuing these sentences, the mitigating factor of reparation of damage has been applied, since before the trial the insurer of the defendants had compensated the worker with 150,000 euros.
