Crossrail contractor fined £1,065,000 after three incidents including death of worker
Health and Safety Executive v Bam Ferrovial Kier (2017) Southwark Crown Court, July 28
Statutory reference: regulation 10 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (WAH) and regulation 22 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM).
The facts
In March 2014 Rene Tkacik, from Slovakia, was working on a team enlarging the Crossrail tunnel by removing tings of the pilot tunnel and spraying walls with wet concrete. A section of the roof collapsed and Tkacik was crushed to death by wet concrete,
In January 2015 Ian Hughes was collecting equipment from inside a tunnel when he was struck by a reversing excavator. He suffered serious injuries.
Also in January 2015 Alex Vizitiu, who was part of a team spraying liquid concrete, was cleaning pipes which supplied the concrete. One of the pipes was disconnected and he was struck with pressurized water and concrete debris. He suffered serious injuries.
There had been a failure to provide a safe system of work, a failure to properly maintain the excavator which reversed into Hughes, and a failure to enforce exclusion zones.
The decision
Bam Ferrovial Kier was fined £300,000 under regulation 10 of WAH and £765,000 for offences under regulation 22 of CDM.
The HSE Head of Operations commented that all three workers were taking part in one of the most important and challenging infrastructure projects of trhe decade. It was the company’s duty to protect its dedicated and highly-skilled workforce.