A managing director was fined €8,000 by a criminal court for his failure to abide by health and safety rules which led to the death of an employee, mitigated by the victim's own negligence.

Claudio Muscat, 60, from Swieqi, as managing director of Clamus Holdings Ltd, was found guilty of the involuntary homicide of 23-year old Carmel Sammut, who had taken up the job one month before the unfortunate episode.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia, heard how on April 1, 2005, the victim was crushed to death under the metal cage of a lift used to carry goods in the company's stationery store at Tal-Ħandaq. At the time of the incident, Mr Sammut was alone inside the store.

An engineering expert reporting on the incident explained that the lift consisted of a metal cage suspended from a chain and operated by means of a control switch.

On the day of the fatality, the 220kg cage was somehow jammed. The victim stuck his upper body into the shaft, wrestling with the metal frame in an attempt to free the cage while pressing the control button. At some point, the chain snapped and the cage crushed the worker.

Even though there was a degree of contributory negligence on the part of the victim this did not detract from the employer’s responsibility to create a safe working environment.

The court observed that the expert had identified various shortcomings in the set-up of the lift, such as the lack of electro-mechanical gate locks and emergency brakes. Although the machinery had some safety features, it did not comply with EU regulations, had not been certified by an expert engineer and no regular inspections had been carried out.

The court noted that there had been no safety measures to prevent a person from entering the lift shaft. Nor was there any signage to warn employees that this was a goods lift. Warning workers to stay away from the lift was simply not enough, the court remarked.

Even though there was a degree of contributory negligence on the part of the victim – who ought to have sought expert help rather than try to solve the hitch himself – this did not detract from the employer’s responsibility to create a safe working environment.

Declaring the accused guilty of involuntary homicide, the court also took into consideration the OHSA official’s declaration that the man was no ‘cowboy’ but a genuine person who immediately admitted to his shortcomings.

The court fined the employer €8,000 and ordered him to pay a further €1,351.97 to cover court expert fees.

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