Crossrail firms to be fined over wet concrete death of worker

CONTRACTORS on the £15 billion Crossrail project face heavy fines after admitting failures that led to the death of one worker and two others suffering serious injuries.

Rene Tkacik, 44, was killed on March 7, 2014 when a ton of wet concrete fell on him as he worked in a tunnel at the Fisher Street site in Holborn.

His inquest at St Pancras coroner’s court heard no barrier had been erected to stop Mr Tkacik and his coworkers entering the dangerous area.

A jury returned a narrative verdict that the definition and supervision of the dangerous zone was unclear and that briefings for workers were only translated on an ad hoc basis.

At Westminster magistrates’ court yesterday, contractors BAM, Ferrovial and Keir, under the collective banner BFK, admitted a health and safety breach over the Slovakian-born concrete sprayer’s death.

The firms also admitted breaches over the injury to two other Crossrail workers in January 2015. Terrence “Ian” Hughes suffered severe leg injuries when he was crushed by a tipper truck on the Bond Street to Paddington tunnel on January 16, 2015.

Six days later, Alex Vizitiu suffered leg and head injuries on the same stretch of tunnel when he was hit by a high pressure mix of water and concrete.

Jonathan Laidlaw QC entered guilty pleas on behalf of BFK to three charges of contravening health and safety regulations.

District judge John Zani sent the case to Southwark crown court, where the companies are due to be sentenced on July 27. They are likely to face hefty fines over the health and safet y breaches.