Jury hears unclear processes and poor English ability contributed to tragedy
A Crossrail worker who was crushed to death by wet concrete died in a situation that was contributed to by unclear processes, an inquest has recorded.
After a six-day hearing at St Pancras Coroner鈥檚 Court in central London, jurors determined that Slovakian national Rene Tkacik鈥檚 March 2014 death was an accident.
Their narrative verdict found that 鈥渦nclear processes鈥� and an 鈥渦nclear鈥� definition of the exclusion zone where wet concrete was being poured were contributory factors in the 44-year old鈥檚 death.
The verdict also found Tkacik鈥檚 death had other accidental contributory factors, including him not being able to understand all briefings due to his limited English skills.
Tkacik was working for the Bam Ferrovial Kier joint venture on the Fisher Street tunnel near Holborn when the accident happened.
Steve Murphy, general secretary of union UCATT, said Tkacik鈥檚 death was 鈥渃learly preventable鈥� and that lessons must be learned from the tragedy.
鈥淣o issues must be covered up to prevent similar deaths occurring in the future,鈥� he said.
鈥淚f the industry wants to learn from this tragedy and improve safety then it is essential there is full transparency.
鈥淲e urgently need an honest debate about how the entire industry, including the union movement, can increase the safety of workers.鈥�
Crossrail said everyone continuing to work on the project continued to be affected by the tragedy.
A spokesperson said: 鈥淥ur thoughts and sympathies are with Rene Tkacik鈥檚 family, friends and colleagues.
鈥淪afety has always been, and continues to be, the number one value for Crossrail and is critical to the delivery of the project.
鈥淐rossrail has a good safety record and sets the most stringent contractor safety requirements in the industry. There is nothing so important on Crossrail that it cannot be done safely.鈥�
Coroner Mary Hassell did not issue a Prevention of Future Death Report following the inquest.
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