Legal experts are currently cautiously discussing the possibility of criminal liability after a crane fell onto Prilaz baruna Filipovića street due to severe weather that struck Zagreb a few days ago. The same applies to the fall of a crane that was at the Brajdica terminal in the Rijeka port (under the concession of Adriatic Gate Container Terminal), noting that unlike the Zagreb case, there were no casualties there.
Media reports indicated that, for instance, the crane in Zagreb should withstand wind gusts of up to 300 kilometers per hour, yet it fell due to a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. Lawyer Ljubo Pavasović Visković states that this is an extraordinary event and that experts should investigate the cause of the fall since other cranes did not fall. Nevertheless, he believes that there should not be criminal liability as it is an extraordinary event, namely severe weather of significant magnitude.
– I do not know if there is a regulation or standard that specifies how strong a wind gust a crane can withstand, but if there is, expert analysis will determine whether human factors influenced the fall. However, I am inclined to believe that there will not be criminal liability as it was indeed an extraordinary event, unless it involves serious human error. In that case, liability must exist. But let us wait for the authorities to do their job, and then we will know more – says Pavasović Visković.
His colleague Veljko Miljević points out that in any case, this involves endangering safety with a generally dangerous means, and a crane is one such means. He also does not wish to assess whether it is a matter of criminal liability as an expert report is expected, which will determine whether the State Attorney’s Office will file charges for a criminal offense.
– Occupational safety experts will need to determine why safety was compromised. It is difficult to say what the cause is at this point as we do not have access to the record of the inspection from the scene. As soon as they receive it, the State Attorney’s Office and the State Inspectorate will react ex officio – says Miljević.
Long-term prison sentences
It is evident, adds lawyer Alan Kubat from Miljević’s office, that one person sustained serious bodily injuries, which endangered their life, and the fall of the crane itself, besides causing significant material damage, could have endangered more human lives. Kubat states that typically the site manager is one of the responsible parties whenever such a situation occurs. Responsibility will also be determined, continues Kubat, for the crane owner, namely whether there was a technical failure, and possible responsibility of others in the hierarchy will also be established. The responsibility of the contractor as a legal entity is not excluded.
This criminal law expert adds that any potential criminal liability could be based on Article 215 of the Criminal Code (CC), which states that a person who fails to install the prescribed devices for protection against fire, explosion, flooding, poisons, toxic gases, nuclear energy, ionizing radiation, or for occupational safety will be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years (or in the case of negligence up to three years). Additionally, anyone who does not maintain those ‘devices in proper condition, or fails to activate them when necessary, or does not comply with regulations or technical rules regarding protective measures and thereby causes danger to life or bodily integrity of people or to property of greater extent’ will also be punished.
Kubat also cites Article 221, which states that a person who, during the design, implementation of professional supervision over construction, construction or execution of specific works, or demolition of a building, acts contrary to regulations or generally accepted rules of the profession, causing danger to life or bodily integrity of people or to property of greater extent, will be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years (in the case of negligence up to three years). Let us remind once again that a thirty-six-year-old Indian man was severely injured in Zagreb, who fortunately survived the fall from a 30-meter construction crane, but is not in life-threatening condition. However, he was put in that situation, whether solely due to the wind or also due to human error, will soon be determined.
Article 222 also prescribes long-term prison sentences in such cases, but although it is possible that responsibility will be established under the Criminal Code, Kubat does not exclude the option that those responsible may face misdemeanor charges. Furthermore, he notes, not everyone’s responsibility has to be the same. For example, if someone signs a contract with a company to install a roof on their house and the work is so poorly done that it collapses and endangers the lives of people nearby, the contractor may be criminally liable, while the homeowner may be civilly liable. The same applies in this case. If, for instance, it is determined that the crane owner made a technical error, then the contractor (legal entity) would have lesser responsibility. We would say, listening to our lawyers, a similar command responsibility, often mentioned in recent decades.
Investigations in both Rijeka and Zagreb are still ongoing, and it is unknown when they will be completed, but as our criminal law experts say, it is uncertain whether anyone will be held accountable, and if human responsibility is established, whether it will be for a misdemeanor or a criminal offense. For now, there is too little information to discuss this.
