The eight-day hearing takes place at St Pancras Coroner’s Court from Monday 23rd February 2015.
The coroner will hear how René Tkacik, from Slovakia, was crushed to death on 7th March 2014 as he sprayed concrete through a hose on the Crossrail project. He was working for the BFK (a joint venture of BAM, Ferrovial and Kier).
Helen Clifford, a construction injury lawyer from Leigh Day who is representing Mr Tkacik’s parents at the inquest, has repeated calls for Crossrail management to come clean about what she calls the ‘human cost’ of the £15bn project after newspaper reports last year questioning safety standards on the project. Ms Clifford is head of the construction team at law firm Leigh Day and is representing a number of men injured during the construction of Crossrail.
Next week’s inquest will hear from the Health & Safety Executive, which has investigated the incident, as well as BFK and the BBMV (Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall, Vinci Construction joint venture).
Ms Clifford said: "We await to hear from witnesses at the inquest the exact details of the incident which led to the death of Mr Tkacik. We are especially keen to hear from those who were working with shotcrete throughout the Crossrail project.”
Safety campaigners will also be watching keenly. Peter Farrell, chair of the Construction Safety Campaign & London Hazards Centre, said: “We demand a full investigation into health & safety on Crossrail. Action must be taken to prevent further deaths & serious injuries.”
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