Head Of Norilsk Plant Dismissed After Fatal Collapse Of Building - Nornickel President

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2021) The head of the Norilsk Enrichment plant, located in Russia's Krasnoyarsk Territory, has been dismissed from his post after alleged violation of safety regulations caused the collapse of the plant's building, resulting in the loss of one life and several injuries, President and Chairman of the Management board of Nornickel Vladimir Potanin said on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, the crushing department of the Norilsk Enrichment Plant collapsed, leaving one person dead, three men sustaining injuries and two others missing. The incident took place amid the repair work aimed at strengthening the structure of the crushing department.

"At the moment, the investigation is going on. The head of the plant, where the incident occurred, has been dismissed from the occupied post. The headquarters on the elimination of the consequences and providing aid to the affected have been established," Potanin said at a press conference.

The businessman stressed that the accident was supposedly caused by a safety violation.

"This accident has allegedly occurred due to serious violation of safety procedures and the norms of industrial safety by the leadership of the entity," Potanin said.

The businessman added that the incident demonstrated that Nornickel failed to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of its employees.

"This accident, this incident, which occurred this night, has demonstrated that, obviously, the efforts are not enough. And we, assuming the responsibility for the incident, will tighten the requirements for industrial safety, demand for the people who are responsible for the industrial safety in order to prevent this in the future," Potanin said.

Emergency services received the information about the collapse of the crushing department of the Norilsk Enrichment Plant at 21:44 GMT, when eight persons were inside the building. The size of the building iis believed to be 1,000 square meters (more than 10,700 square feet. The Russian Investigative Committee has initiated an investigation and filed a criminal case over a security violation that resulted in the deaths of people.