06:02 pm, Friday 24 August, 2007

Source: ABC

The New South Wales coroner has found that the builders of the Cross City Tunnel should have done more to protect a worker who was killed in a rock fall.

Ronald Shores died on July 29, 2004, when a section of roof collapsed on him while he was working on a ventilation tunnel as part of the tunnel project.

At the time, Mr Shores was drilling a hole from under unsupported roofing.

The Deputy state coroner, Carl Milovanovich, has found that the death was preventable.

He found Mr Shore’s employer, Baulderstone Hornibrook/Bilfinger Berger, knew that Mr Shores was working in unsafe conditions.

Mr Milovanovich says the company had not identified safety issues in the construction and should have implemented measures to reduce risk.

Mr Shores’s widow, Marlene, says she is still angry her husband was not provided with a safe working environment.

“It happens all the time,” she said. “It’s not a real accident – it’s preventable.”

Her lawyer, Stuart Barnett, says she is still seeking closure.

“She still has to finalise her compensation claim and there is still the Occupational Health and Safety prosecution to sit through, so it goes on for the family and those around her,” he said.

WorkCover NSW is prosecuting five companies in the tunnel consortium for breaches of Occupational Health and Safety regulations.

OHS NEWS TIP - Working In Tunnels Safe Work Procedure

Report by Julia Alder - Do you have an OHS News Story - Let us know