He has a worker who lifts iron with a crane, so he intervened, increased the load, and took over driving the crane, and it fell on the worker
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Fatwa number ( 20105 )
Q: I have an Indian worker who is a blacksmith, and he is a Hindu. He works for me on an industrial project. He used a crane to lift iron to the top of this project, and he had added an iron extension to it to lift it to a higher distance, which was done by his own hand. On the day 9/7/1418 AH, he loaded (10) zinc sheets, (8 m) long and (1 m) wide, onto this crane, and climbed on top of this load. Then I asked him to add (5) sheets of this zinc, and he agreed and loaded them. Then I took over driving it, and stopped it next to this project. This worker climbed to the top of the load, and when I lifted it to the top for the worker to place it in its place, when it reached the level of the ceiling, this load tilted and fell from this
height toward the worker, and these sheets hit him on the head, and then this blacksmith died. Knowing that he had worked on this extension for about a month and no harm occurred. I have completed his procedures with the government and with his relatives who were entrusted by his family. My question is: Do I have an expiation, or does anything attach to me?
A: If the situation is as mentioned, then the most cautious and the one that clears your conscience is to perform the expiation for accidental killing; because the tilting of this load and its falling on this worker involved several factors; and among the most important related to you is your request to this worker to increase the load by five sheets in addition to what this worker had placed, in addition to your driving of this crane. It may have been that you stopped it in an unbalanced place, and the method of lifting may have contributed to the instability of the load and its lack of balance, and thus its falling. And accordingly, the most cautious and the one that clears the conscience is to perform the expiation for accidental killing, which is freeing a believing slave. If you cannot do so or do not find one, then you fast two consecutive months. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: I have an Indian worker who is a blacksmith, and he is a Hindu. He works for me on an industrial project. He used a crane to lift iron to the top of this project, and he had added an iron extension to it to lift it to a higher distance, which was done by his own hand. On the day 9/7/1418 AH, he loaded (10) zinc sheets, (8 m) long and (1 m) wide, onto this crane, and climbed on top of this load. Then I asked him to add (5) sheets of this zinc, and he agreed and loaded them. Then I took over driving it, and stopped it next to this project. This worker climbed to the top of the load, and when I lifted it to the top for the worker to place it in its place, when it reached the level of the ceiling, this load tilted and fell from this
height toward the worker, and these sheets hit him on the head, and then this blacksmith died. Knowing that he had worked on this extension for about a month and no harm occurred. I have completed his procedures with the government and with his relatives who were entrusted by his family. My question is: Do I have an expiation, or does anything attach to me?
A: If the situation is as mentioned, then the most cautious and the one that clears your conscience is to perform the expiation for accidental killing; because the tilting of this load and its falling on this worker involved several factors; and among the most important related to you is your request to this worker to increase the load by five sheets in addition to what this worker had placed, in addition to your driving of this crane. It may have been that you stopped it in an unbalanced place, and the method of lifting may have contributed to the instability of the load and its lack of balance, and thus its falling. And accordingly, the most cautious and the one that clears the conscience is to perform the expiation for accidental killing, which is freeing a believing slave. If you cannot do so or do not find one, then you fast two consecutive months. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.