Manager jailed in warehouse death

He is convicted of being responsible for incident in which sandbags crushed a supervisor.

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DUBAI // A partner and a manager at an international company got a year in prison for causing the accidental death of a 40-year-old supervisor, who was killed when 4,000kg of sandbags fell on him in a warehouse.

The Dubai Court of Misdemeanours also ordered BB, 30, Indian to pay blood money to the family of SA, also Indian.  He has appealed the verdict.

According to records, SA worked as a labour supervisor and a driver for surface preparation equipment and accessories company that also has branches in Qatar and India.

On January 19, 2011, the company received a shipment of four trucks loaded with 140 sand bags. Each bag is about a metre long and weighs 1,000kg, prosecutors said.

The 32-year-old SN, an Indian forklift driver testified that he was hired to store the bags in the company's warehouse in Al Qusais area. After placing 112 bags inside the warehouse, no space remained. The 28 unstored bags were piled on top of each other outside, SN said.

He said SA then ordered him to move the bags inside. SN told prosecutors the safest way to store the bags was to put them in columns of four, but SA told him to put eight in each column.

After stacking the bags inside, six fell to the floor, and SN had to replace them, his testimony shows. But during the operation, four bags fell on SA.

He was severely injured and died the next morning at Rashid Hospital.

BB had denied the charges, saying he was not present during the incident. He was convicted of negligence and not following safety procedures.

The Appeals Court will issue a verdict on December 5.

salamir@thenational.ae