A leaked safety report has accused the Crossrail project of creating a culture in which workers are afraid to report mistakes and safety incidents, The Observer has reported.
The report, leaked to the newspaper this weekend, was produced a year ago by consultants MindSafety on the direction of Balfour Beatty, BeMo Tunnelling, Morgan Sindall and Vinci Construction, the companies behind BBMV, a joint venture developing two parts of the Crossrail project on sites at Whitechapel and Finsbury Circus.
Entitled Cultural Overview — Crossrail Project, The Observer says the document praises the good intentions of those managing and working on the two sites and claims the situation is not irreparable.
However, it also identifies a culture in which “individuals cannot move and work freely as they are constantly looking over their shoulders and in fear of reprisals”.
A spokesperson for BBMV, said: “The report commissioned by BBMV 12 months ago does not reflect a poor safety culture at that time. The draft report only contained contributions from a limited number of people and was not sufficient to give a true and accurate reflection of our Whitechapel and Finsbury Circus sites.”
According to The Observer, the report contained the subtitle “The secret photographing/videoing of incidents as they unfold”, under which it said: “These acts have done more to damage morale and client perception than anything else.
“The negative spy culture is hard to understand and even harder to justify.”
The report went on to say that the client and contractor “are disjointed in their views and reactions when [€ﾦ] an incident occurs. In fact they are miles apart€ﾦ injured workers are afraid to report due to the likelihood of being laid off. They are asked to report everything, but there is a major backlash when they do.”
A spokesperson for Crossrail said: “Crossrail refutes this inaccurate description and has enjoyed a good working relationship with BBMV throughout. Crossrail’s safety record is better than the UK construction industry average.”
The report, leaked ahead of Workers’ Memorial Day, which takes place today, comes after the death of Rene Tkacik on the Crossrail project on 7 March.
Steve Hails, Crossrail health and safety director, said: “Crossrail has a good safety record and sets the most stringent contractor safety requirements in the industry.
“We require all our contractors to put in place honest and open reporting of all incidents however minor. Contractors are also evaluated on their workforce engagement. We’re determined to drive up standards for the whole industry.
“Crossrail has worked closely with the Health and Safety Executive since the earliest stages of the project with dedicated HSE inspectors allocated to undertakes regular inspections of Crossrail contractor sites.
“By pioneering new ways of approaching health and safety we want to leave a legacy that will help to make the construction industry safer, long after Crossrail is complete.”
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