Katowice Trade Hall Roof Collapse - Aftermath and Investigation

Aftermath and Investigation

After the tragedy, the highest authorities arrived to the scene, including the Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński. The latter declared the period until 1 February to be national days of mourning.

On Tuesday, 21 February, at 0600 hours Central European Time (0500 UTC) three persons were arrested and then brought to the Katowice District Prosecutor’s Office: New Zealand–born chairman of the International Katowice Fair Board of Management Bruce Robinson (who is also a Managing Director of London–based Expomedia company that owns 51% share in MTK), deputy chairman Ryszard Ziółek, and company’s technical manager Adam Hildebrandt. They were interviewed and charged with criminal negligence – allegedly they were aware of the fact that the building was unsafe and yet allowed the Fair to go on, and by doing so they contributed to deaths of 65 people. The spokesperson for the Prosecutor’s Office did not rule out laying other charges in the future – depending on facts established by experts on causes of the building’s collapse. A search warrant was also executed at Mr. Robinson’s Warsaw apartment. The charges carry a maximum of 8 years imprisonment. Prosecutors also applied to the court for the accused to be detained for 3 months. The application was granted by the court, their application for bail was refused. A judge is quoted as saying that immediately after the catastrophe the accused destroyed some vital documents and there exists a possibility that if they were released on bail they would intimidate witnesses to change their testimonies. Their appeal against arrest was rejected by District Court on 5 May.

After interviewing some 200 witnesses, analysis of company documents, experts’ findings and data from company’s computers (some of which was recovered by computer specialists) the prosecutors allege that the accused are responsible for failing to remove heavy snow and ice from the building’s roof, and also that in the past the roof got damaged and yet they carried out only emergency repairs and did not report the damage to a building inspector as required by Polish law. Earlier the managers claimed both that the snow was removed from the roof and that it was impossible for them to clear the roof because a Tax Office seized their accounts due to tax arrears. A spokesperson for the Tax Office refuted this claim saying that only some of the company’s cash was seized and amount remaining should have been more than sufficient to pay for snow and ice removal.

On 31 March 2006 the commission investigating causes of the disaster released a preliminary report into their findings. They found numerous design and construction flaws that contributed to the speed of collapse. The snow from the roof was not being removed which resulted in construction overload by more than 100%. Moreover, in 2002 the construction buckled under the heavy snow; contrary to the regulations the hall was repaired without getting a building inspector’s clearance and without doing necessary tests and calculations to determine if the construction was stable and had sufficient strength.

On Monday, 26 June 2006, three architects who designed the hall were arrested. Two were charged with "wilfully causing a building catastrophe" and by this causing death of 65 people, the third one was charged with "involuntary causing a building catastrophe." The prosecutor alleges that Jacek J. and Szczepan K. made several errors and introduced several amendments to the project that were not agreed upon. Both were aware of the fact that in January 2000 the roof buckled under the weight of the snow, yet they did not take any steps to remedy the situation and perhaps prevent the tragedy. The third architect, Andrzej W., is charged with approving the project despite its errors and deficiencies. The charges are the result of reports made by experts on building, steel constructions and reinforced concrete constructions. Pursuant to Polish law that automatically grants accused name suppression, the surnames of the accused are unavailable in Polish media.

On 14 February 2007 the Court of Appeal in Katowice granted bail to the three top bosses of the company – Bruce Robinson, Ryszard Ziółek, and Adam Hildebrandt. Mr. Robinson will have to pay a 100,000 zloty bond (approx. €25,000/$33,000/£17,000), the other two – 50,000 zloty each. All three will also remain under police supervision and will have to surrender their passports. The prosecutor has appealed against granting them bail while one of the accused has appealed against the amount. On Monday, the 5 March 2007, the Court of Appeal in Katowice rejected both appeals and at the same time raised the amount that Bruce Robinson has to deposit to 300,000 zloty (about €75,000/$100,000/£50,000). The ruling is final.

As a result of the catastrophe, in March 2007 the Polish building law was amended. Large buildings must now undergo a technical survey twice every year (before and after winter) to make sure they are safe and structurally sound. Failure to conduct the survey is punishable by a minimum 1,000 zloty fine or a term of prison.