On January 18, 2024, the case of the death of workers at the Selenga pulp and cardboard mill underwent changes. The Supreme Court of Buryatia toughened the punishment for convicted enterprise managers, replacing the suspended sentence with a real one – in a penal colony.
The editors do not follow the goal of questioning the court’s decision; they only want to note that society is interested in ensuring that all guilty persons bear responsibility for crimes. In the case of the plant, it was fundamentally wrong to exclude from the circle of suspects the immediate bosses of the JCCC – the director Lilia Deeva And owner Evgeniy Pruidze. Let’s figure it out in order.
The tragedy in question occurred at the JCCC treatment plant on the evening of April 17, 2022. Five employees, two men and three women, died from gas poisoning. Only one woman managed to get out of the room on her own. According to official data, a sudden leak of hydrogen sulfide occurred at the “deadly” site. But was it so sudden, or was it still a matter of time?
Let’s start with the fact that, according to the law, the owners of the central control plant were required to install a gas alarm at the enterprise, since gas equipment is used there – one of the most dangerous from the point of view of operation. Sensors should be installed on almost every corner. However, the misfortune that claimed people’s lives clearly indicates management’s disregard for industrial safety.
While the director of the JCCC, Liliya Deeva, was paying off in every possible way for the death of the workers, its owner, Evgeniy Pruidze, in his interview admitted that the drive of the settling tank where the accident occurred had failed on January 21, 2022 and needed urgent repairs. It is easy to guess that due to the negligence of the bosses, the repair was never organized on time.
Untimely fulfillment of duties by the plant’s management led to the fact that on the day of the tragedy the natural air circulation in the room stopped – hydrogen sulfide began to rapidly accumulate in the receiving tank and killed the workers.
To assess the scale of the leak, it is worth recalling that the high concentration of poisonous gas at the scene of the incident remained extremely high even a day after the emergency: at the treatment plant the MPC values exceeded almost a thousand times (!). In the air above populated areas near the plant, the gas concentration exceeded ten times the permissible values.
Throughout the investigation, the company was brought to various kinds of liability, in particular for violations of legislation on industrial safety during the operation of a hazardous production facility as part of a complex of wastewater treatment facilities. And the prosecutor’s office obliged management to correct problem areas.
After coercion from law enforcement agencies, the plant promised (and reluctantly) to install gas leak detectors and the missing video surveillance system. The management of the plant, also after investigative proceedings, deigned to issue local acts, which should be aimed at ensuring the safety of workers and the protection of the treatment plant complex. But was it done…
Also, neither Liliya Deeva nor Evgeniy Pruidze were brought to justice for the deaths of employees, although security violations at the enterprise are their area of responsibility. In other words, they are required to know when equipment breaks down and basic safety rules are not followed. Therefore, they could not have been unaware of the drive failure.
According to Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) “Violation of labor safety rules,” the management of an organization must be held responsible for industrial injuries to employees and, especially, their death, if “they have not taken measures to eliminate the violation of labor safety requirements known to them.” Therefore, at a minimum, Lilia Deeva must answer for the accident. But it’s not that simple.
A man contacted Babr, introducing himself as the former director of JCCC for production Fedor Lankovich – the one who heads list of convicts. In his letter, he spoke about the contractual relationship between Liliya Deeva and the prosecutor, and that is why the official gets away with numerous violations at the enterprise.
And here again – almost two years after the incident, four employees of the Selenga Central Control Commission are found guilty of violating labor safety requirements, resulting in the death of their subordinates, and their punishment is being increased. Instead of holding the bosses accountable.