Widow of worker killed in mine accident is entitled to pension

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If the company does not respect mandatory protection and safety standards, it must be held responsible for the death of an employee in an accident that occurred on its premises. This was the understanding of the 3rd Panel of the Superior Labor Court when it unanimously condemned an engineering company and a mining company to pay pension to the widow of a shift supervisor who died when the elevator he was in fell from a height of 500 meters within from the mine where he worked. reproduction The worker died while working in a mine shaft in Bahia Reproduction The panel sentenced Shaft Engenharia e Serviços Eireli and Anglogold Ashanti Córrego do Sítio Mineração SA to pay a pension in a percentage equivalent to two-thirds of the employee's salary, an amount that will be paid until the installments reach R$200,000. In the action, the heiress stated that her partner, with whom she lived in a stable relationship for more than nine years, was hired by Shaft and suffered an accident at work when working in a well in a mine owned by Anglogold.

According to her, the employee had no chance Phone Number List of defense when the cage-shaped elevator, where he was with three colleagues, plummeted into the mine due to a defect in the brake system. The widow requested compensation for material damages in the form of a pension, to be paid in a single installment, of around R$2.1 million and compensation for moral damages of R$500,000. The companies, in their defense, claimed that the accident resulted from a fortuitous event and that they took all necessary precautions, including presenting certificates of occupational safety courses. The court of the Labor Court of Conceição do Coité (BA), when analyzing the request, decided to condemn Shaft and Anglogold, on a subsidiary basis, to pay material damages of around R$ 560 thousand, with payment in a single installment , and moral damages of R$50 thousand. The court took into account that ten infraction notices issued by the Ministry of Labor and Employment against the companies after the accident were attached to the evidence, making it clear to the court that the tragedy could have been avoided.



The Regional Labor Court of the 5th Region (BA), in turn, when analyzing the ordinary resources of the companies and the widow, decided to re-arbitrate the amounts to set the conviction values ​​at R$ 200 thousand for material damages and R$ 100 thousand for moral damages. In analyzing Shaft's review appeal, the 3rd Panel decided to maintain responsibility for the accident and the compensation amounts, but transformed the compensation for material damage into a monthly pension. In his vote, the rapporteur, minister Mauricio Godinho, highlighted that the TST has already expressed its intention to consider work in underground mines with a high risk, in order to attract objective liability in cases of accidents in which the damage and damage are proven. causal link between the injury suffered and the activity. Furthermore, the minister highlighted that, as seen in the TRT's decision, mandatory protection and safety standards were not respected, meaning that there were failures in the protection of employees who worked excavating underground mines against possible work accidents. This fact, for the rapporteur, reveals culpable conduct. With information from the TST press office.