Trade Union Activist From “Belaruskaliy”: They Ordered To “Crank Out” Currency To Budget Not Caring About Security

The fire at the enterprise could have started due to careless attitude of the administration to the regulations of occupational safety.

At night on May 22 there started a fire at “Belaruskaliy”, in particular, at the warehouse of the granulated concentrate and the transfer unit at the industrial ground of the 1st mining department.

This accident has not become a surprise for one of the plant’s employees, trade union activist Aliaksandr Malochka:

- The night before the fire, at one of the meetings, a worker of the transfer unit spoke up and revealed a great number of problems, mostly equipment deterioration and lack of materials. And, literally in a week, there happens a fire, - Aliaksandr Malochka has told in a comment to charter97.org. According to him, the transfer unit is far from being the only problem spot at “Belaruskaliy”. The enterprise is now working in such regime that the administration just don’t care about security.

- I will give you an example: the protective system was taken off at one of the conveyor sections upon the CEO’s verbal direction. This means, if a person got under the conveyor, the alarm system wouldn’t work. This is the unheard of violation of safety. I asked a question at the meeting – who will be responsible for this and when will the written order come? They replied there wouldn’t be any official directions. When I asked who would go to the Investigatory Committee for an interview in case of an accident, and they told me it would be the foreman’s fault in the end! - Aliaksandr Malochka has said.

According to the trade union activist, the administration wants to get the maximum from the plant, while minimizing the expenses. They don’t think a minute what it might result in for simple workers.

- The bosses got the task – to provide currency to the country, and nobody cares how it is done. No one thinks about the workers’ safety. Since Ivan Halavaty had become a director, two major accidents happened at the plant – first, a conveyor fell, then there happened an explosion in the mine. They overdrove the manufacture to such extent that, no wonder, accidents happen.

According to non-official information, welding jobs were conducted at the same section where the fire started, the day before the accident. The reason for the fire could have been violation of regulations of occupational safety.