More than three years ago, a 60-year-old man from Helmond died in an industrial accident in Eindhoven. His employer is accused of not having properly informed construction workers about the risks of the job. Their safety was also not sufficiently guaranteed. The public prosecutor believes that the company should be fined €75,000.
The accident happened on 2 September 2, 2021 on Otterstraat in Eindhoven, early in the morning, during the construction of an apartment complex. The Helmond resident was working there with several colleagues, including his son. They had been asked by the company in Den Bosch to do the job (as self-employed persons).
Son climbed on wall
The accident occurred because part of the formwork around the place where concrete was to be poured was not properly secured. The wall fell over and landed on top of the Helmond resident. Images of the accident show how his son (unsecured) climbed onto the formwork wall, after which the structure came loose and fell over. His father died at the scene of the accident.
It was not the first industrial accident in which the company in Den Bosch was involved earlier that year. A legally prescribed safety plan was only drawn up áfter the fatal accident, the officer accused. According to her, there was also too little supervision that morning and the construction workers had already been neglected to better instructions in advance: “The company deliberately created an unsafe working environment and accepted the consequences”.
The concrete builder had blind faith in the Helmond construction worker and his experienced colleagues, but was painfully presented with the bill for this. He faces another fine of €25,000 if he makes the same mistake again.
Two peas in a pod
The demand hit the company manager hard. “I have known John for forty years and I also let him choose his people who he would work with. I had every confidence in him”, he stated in court.
The 60-year-old CEO still finds it terrible what the relatives have to experience. “But it also turned my life upside down. I had called him that morning. John and I were like two peas in a pod”.
The accident has also left deep scars on the company owner. “The joy has dissapeared. My family is the only reason I continue. Fortunately, there are colleagues who understand and also feel empathic about what happened. Other companies see me as a disease since then. I would consider any conviction as a great sense of injustice. I do everything for my people. I think it is right that the Arbeidsinspectie (labour inspectorate) has started an investigation, but I think that is being done by people who have never seen a hammer in their lives”.
His lawyer said, among other things, that the accident was due to ‘nonchalance and an accumulation of sloppiness’ on the part of the victim and his colleagues. And that another company, which in his eyes should have formally supervised, failed and should have been prosecuted.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
