A Brazilian court in the city of Volta Redonda, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, dismissed prosecutors’ claims over local steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN). Judge Gilberto Garcia da Silva suspended the lawsuit filed by prosecutors against CSN, related to the death of 11 workers, for a period of 180 days.
In September 2014, Brazil’s public ministry, a body of public prosecutors in Volta Redonda, opened a lawsuit against CSN for the death of a company employee at the CSN’s Presidente Vargas mill located in the city of Volta Redonda. Since then, prosecutors opened several other cases, but all of them were dismissed by the local court.
In 2015, there were 89 accidents at CSN’s mill, and two deaths. In March 2016, four workers died following a blast at the company’s galvanizing warehouses.
According to the local judge, the deaths were caused because the workers didn’t comply with the mill’s safety norms. Prosecutors said they will appeal the ruling.