Colleagues have paid tribute to a worker killed by falling concrete in a Crossrail tunnel

Aerial view of Crossrail's Fisher Street shaft worksite, January 2014

Aerial view of Crossrail鈥檚 Fisher Street shaft worksite

The worker, who was killed after an incident last Friday, has been named by police as Slovakian national Rene Tkacik, 43, who was a specialist concrete sprayer.

Crossrail said Tkacik was killed by a falling slab from the tunnel鈥檚 ceiling at the project鈥檚 Fisher Street site in Holborn, central London.

He is first worker to die on the 拢15bn project.

Crossail confirmed that Tkacik was employed by Bam Nuttall, Ferrovial, Kier (BFK), the main contractor on the site.

According to the Evening Standard, Tkacik moved to east London from the Spanish coastal town of San Sebastian in March last year.

A colleague told the newspaper: 鈥淲hen we started work on the Crossrail project we were constantly reminded about our obligation to our fellow workers that everyone has a right to return home safely.

鈥淩ene didn鈥檛 get to go home last Friday to his loved ones, his wife, his family.鈥�

The worker, who saw Tkacik the day before he died, added: 鈥淗e was a quiet, kind, hard-working true gentleman who carried out his work with honesty and integrity.鈥�

Another construction worker told the Evening Standard: 鈥淭hey have as few people at the face as possible. But he shouldn鈥檛 have been there and that鈥檚 why there has been such a fuss over this.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very sad. He was just a nice, quiet family man.鈥�

Another worker said: 鈥淓veryone down here is obviously very upset by the whole thing. Some of the site is still sealed off while they investigate.鈥�

Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail chief executive said: 鈥淓veryone who works on Crossrail has been affected by this terrible incident. Our thoughts and sympathies are with our worker鈥檚 family and colleagues, who have been offered support and counselling.

鈥淎 full investigation is being undertaken, and we are working closely with the Health and Safety Executive and our industry partners to understand precisely how this incident happened

鈥淪afety has always been, and continues to be, the number one value for Crossrail and critical to the success of the programme. There is nothing so important on Crossrail that is cannot be done safely. We continue to strive to make our sites as safe as possible, improve standards across the industry and to hand it back healthier and safer than it was at the beginning.

鈥淭he last few days have only increased that resolve.鈥�

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