Three on trial for causing worker’s death

One Bangladeshi worker died and another was severely injured when they fell of scaffolding that was not placed correctly, a Dubai court hears.

DUBAI // Three men are facing a charge of mistakenly causing the death of a worker and the severe injury of another when the two fell from a high scaffold.

At Dubai Court of Misdemeanours, Palestinian project engineer M K, 47, denied the charges, saying it was not his responsibility because he was not the manager of the subcontractor that was carrying out the work.

The other two defendants, Indian supervisor H D, 39, and Jordanian safety officer R H, 32, were not present at court to enter a plea.

Prosecutors said that at 9.20am on November 29 last year, the police operations room was informed that two Bangladeshi men had fallen off a scaffold at Dubai Investment Park.

M A died instantly while his colleague, B S, suffered severe injuries that left him with 70 per cent permanent disability. He lost some of his sight, has a limp in his left leg and suffers from memory loss.

B S said that something was wrong with the placement of the scaffold, which later caused it to fall and kill his colleague and injure him.

The three defendants denied responsibility during police and prosecution investigations.

“I received a call from H D informing me about the incident, I was not on location at the time,” said M K.

H D said the same thing when questioned by police and prosecutors: “I was supervising another work location that day.”

The next hearing will be on May 5 to summon the other two defendants.