Case study of Corporate Social Responsibility Failure in the Baltic region

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Case study of Corporate Social Responsibility
Failure in the Baltic region

• Ferro-concrete plant in Ukmerges, a small town of
  30,000 in eastern Lithuania
• New production line producing expandable
  polystyrene (EPS) insulation panels for buildings
• granular raw material for EPS emits pentane - a
  gas so flammable that, when mixed with air, even
  heat from a single light bulb can ignite

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Ukmerges July 2003 3 killed, 10 burn victims

• no gas-monitoring equipment
• ventilation was inadequate
• a fire which resulted when a welder used a
  blowtorch the previous day unreported to the
  authorities
• substantial amounts of pentane which is heavier
  than air, had accumulated in the foundations of
  the building.

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Profits before Safety?

• Company was the cheapest supplier of foam
  polystyrene panels in the country.
• The production line had been recently renovated
  and modernised
• production output was 9 times higher than before
  renovation.
• Consequently, pentane levels in the occupational
  environment also increased

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Corporate Failure

• Company failed to execute any additional
  occupational risk hazard assessments
• failed to indicate any explosion risk in the
  workers instructions
• warning instructions were in Russian, not
  Lithuanian
• regulations relative to workers protection
  against hazardous chemical substances at work
  were not adhered to
• requirements for protecting employees working in
  a potentially explosive environment were not
  adhered to.