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The Health and Safety Executive is looking into claims of a 鈥渟pying culture鈥� concerning workers鈥� health and safety practices on the 拢15bn Crossrail project.

a leaked report commissioned by the BBMV joint venture - consisting of Balfour Beatty, BeMo Tunnelling, Morgan Sindall and Vinci, which has contracts to deliver over 拢340m of tunnel and station work on the project - claimed there was a 鈥渘egative spying culture鈥� on the project, with staff videoing or photographing poor health and safety practices instead of stopping them.

The report, written in March 2013 by safety consultant Mind Safe, said that there was a perception among staff of 鈥渟pying and underhand tactics鈥� by the client to 鈥渃atch them [the contractors] out at every turn鈥� on health and safety.

It said: 鈥淭o actively watch people who may be in danger, photograph or video it and then email it around with unmasked glee is not the way to keep the project safe.鈥�

It said staff on the project were 鈥渁pprehensive鈥� about reporting health and safety incidents for fear of a 鈥渂acklash鈥� from senior staff.

Now, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said it is 鈥渁ware鈥� of the claims and would 鈥渃onsider them further鈥�.

An HSE spokespeson added: 鈥淗SE continues to monitor the health and safety performance of the Crossrail project and will take action where appropriate.鈥�

The news comes as union UCATT said it was seeking a meeting with the bosses of BBMV to influence improvements in safety.

Jerry Swain, UCATT regional secretary for the London and South East region, said: 鈥淓mployers need to understand that the perception of being victimised for reporting safety concerns is very serious, whether this is actually the reality or not.鈥�

He added: 鈥淕iven previous problems, workers are more likely to speak to a union safety rep about safety concerns then go directly to management.鈥�

A spokesperson for BBMV said : 鈥淭he 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.鈥�

Steve Hails, Crossrail鈥檚 health and safety director, said the project has a 鈥済ood鈥� health and safety record and 鈥渟ets the most stringent contractor safety requirements in the industry鈥�.