In the last four months four workers of Latvian dairy company Tukuma piens, which is known in the country with its line of “Baltais” products, were seriously injured. In three cases people lost fingers, and in one – an employee suffered a hand fracture.
Three of the victims are from Ukraine. “Aizliegtais paņēmiens” programme checked concerns about the company’s sloppy attitude towards workplace safety and lives of its employees, as reported by public media lsm.lv.
The public media reports that one of the workers is a youngster named Matīss, 19 years old. “He lost four fingers on his right hand. He wanted to study programming. Now he has to think how to keep living basically with hand. Matīss did not receive a compensation for his lost fingers,” the programme reports.
The Labour Inspectorate concluded that the youngster had breached work safety instructions on his own. Still, the inspectorate’s report also mentions no one had previously checked how safe the machinery is and whether or not it was damaged. Matīss still hopes his former place of work – Tukuma piens – will still pay some sort of compensation for his lost fingers.
State Police have started looking into the employer’s responsibility for Matīss case. Investigation concerns non-compliance with workplace safety regulations, lsm.lv reports.
Tukuma piens is one of the biggest employers in Tukums and one of the biggest milk processing companies in Latvia. At the moment the company employs approximately 250 people. In 2022 its turnover was EUR 76 million, profits were EUR 2.8 million. Tukuma piens owner and beneficial owner is Danish citizen Stefan Balkin with an address in Monaco, lsm.lv writes.
More about other work-related injuries here: LSM.LV
Also read: Latvian ministry says unemployment in Latvia do drop to 5% in coming years
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Programme: multiple employees at Tukuma piens suffer injuries
