The Kaunas District Court decided that the employee’s death was caused by his manager’s failure to comply with safety requirements

It has been proven that KV, being the work manager of UAB “Elektros automatika” and having the obligation to ensure safe and harmless working conditions for employees, did not properly assess dangerous risk factors, did not ensure safe working conditions and the necessary work tools, did not comply with the provided legal acts and did not control the work process of employees, due to which resulted in an accident resulting in the death of one employee.

According to the case data, in 2021 on August 23, during the installation works of the security system, outdoor electrical networks and territory lighting electrical networks in the electrical panel, it was not ensured that the worker could not touch parts of currents with a voltage of 0.4 kV. When the employee touched them with his finger, he was affected by the electric current and suffered injuries – the effect of technical electric current and died due to complications.

KV, who was questioned during the court hearing, did not fully admit his guilt for the criminal act he was accused of and stated that the event in which the victim died was determined by the negligence of the deceased himself. Although KV did not admit his guilt due to the charge brought against him, the court found that his guilt was proven by the evidence collected during the pre-trial investigation and directly examined in court.

“If the defendant had been sufficiently attentive and careful and had followed all the requirements set forth in the Occupational Safety and Health Act or other legal acts, the accident would not have occurred under the circumstances. Thus, violations of the requirements established by the Occupational Safety and Health Act or other legal acts committed by the KV were the main and necessary condition for the occurrence of the event and the consequences – the death of the victim – and therefore there is a direct causal relationship between the actions of the KV and the resulting consequences. In addition, the accident that caused the death of an employee of the company was caused not only by a specific violation of the requirements of legal acts committed by KV and not by each of them individually, but by the totality of violations of the requirements of occupational safety and health protection at work established in occupational safety laws and other legal acts.” – stated by the Kaunas District Court in the judgment passed by judge Arūnas Purvainis.

in 2024 April 23 By the judgment of the Kaunas Chamber of the Kaunas District Court, KV was found guilty of violating worker safety and health requirements (Article 176 d. 1 of the Criminal Code), and was fined 190 MGL (9,500 euros). Since the employer is responsible for the material or non-material damage caused by the employee’s criminal acts, the civil claim of the victim (the deceased’s spouse) was partially satisfied in the case – the defendant UAB “Elektros automatika” was awarded non-material damage in the amount of 40,000 euros and more than 14,300 euros in material damage. The company will also have to compensate the property damage of 8,000 euros to the Kaunas Territorial Sick Fund, which was incurred while trying to save the victim’s life.

The verdict can be appealed within 20 days.