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Crossrail contractors to be prosecuted over shotcreter’s death

8 Dec 16 BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman and Kier are being prosecuted by the Health & Safety Executive in relation to three incidents during construction of Crossrail tunnels.

Sprayed concrete was used to line Crossrail tunnel walls
Sprayed concrete was used to line Crossrail tunnel walls

The three companies, which worked together as the BFK joint venture, will appear at Westminster’s Magistrates Court in January 2017 to face four charges each. Two of the charges relate to the death of Rene Tkacik on 7th March 2014 and one each relate to injuries to Terrence Hughes on the 16th January 2015 and Alex Vizitiu on 22nd January 2015.

Slovakian Rene Tkacik died after he was crushed by falling concrete while working as a concrete sprayer on the Fisher street cross-over tunnel.

Terrance ‘Ian’ Hughes was working between the Bond Street and Paddington section of the tunnel when he was crushed by a tipper truck. He suffered severe leg injuries.

Alex Vizitiu, working in the same stretch of the tunnel a week later, suffered head and hip injuries when he was struck by a high pressure mixture of water and concrete during a routine operation to clean concrete lines.

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HSE head of operations Annette Hall said: “We have today informed the three contractors that they will each be prosecuted for the death of a worker and injuries sustained by two others, in three separate incidents on the construction project. These were all serious incidents and resulted in the death of one of their workers.

“We have concluded following thorough investigations that there is sufficient evidence to prosecute and it is in the public interest to do so.”

BAM Nuttall Limited, Ferrovial Agroman (UK) Ltd and Kier Infrastructure & Overseas Ltd will each face four charges: one charge under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974; one charge under section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974; two charges under Regulation 22 (1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

Lessons from the death of Mr Tkacik informed the production of new British Tunnelling Society guidance, Sprayed Concrete Lining (SCL) Exclusion Zone Management, which is free to download from the Knowledge/Good Practice Guides section of www.britishtunnelling.org.uk.

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