Manager denies blame for death by crushing

Company officials are accused of being responsible for the death of a worker killed by falling sand.

Powered by automated translation

DUBAI // A partner and manager of an international company denies being responsible for the accidental death of a supervisor who was crushed by 4,000kg of sand, a court has been told.

BB, an Indian, was accused of being negligent and not following safety procedures. He denied the charges and said he was not at work when the incident happened, learning of it only when an employee called him.

Prosecution records show the victim, SA, also an Indian, worked as a supervisor and driver for a company that provides surface preparation equipment.

On January 19 the company received four truckloads of sand bags. Each bag was a metre long and weighed 1,000kg, prosecutors said.

SN, 32, an Indian forklift driver, testified that it was his job to store the bags of sand in the company's warehouse in the Al Qusais area.

About 5pm, after 112 bags were stored inside the warehouse, there was no space left and 28 bags had to be piled outside, SN said.

At that point, SA, 40, ordered him to move the bags inside, court records show.

SN told prosecutors the safest way to store the bags was in stacks of four, but SA asked him to put eight in each stack.

After stacking the bags inside, six fell and SN had to pick them up again, he testified. SA stood nearby in a corner of the warehouse trying to help.

At that point four bags fell on SA. SN and other workers used the forklift to remove the bags until police and rescue workers arrived, court records show.

SA was severely injured and died the next morning at Rashid Hospital of abdominal bleeding, a medical report showed.

The Court of Misdemeanours has scheduled the next hearing for June 7.