A construction worker was crushed to death by a 52-ton beam "bumps" at him and heard an investigation.

Cristinel Osolos, 30, has been wiping the surface of mortar while working on a bridge in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

He died at Coventry University Hospital on May 31, 2017, 7 days after the incident.

The Northampton Coroner's Court heard how a crane operator lifted the beam of Mr. Osolos after hearing his scream.

Coroner Philip Barlow said that Mr. Osolos from Birmingham had been working on a new bridge over the river in the Stanton Cross development area.

He told the jury that the "very large" concrete beam was being installed in place using a crane.

"In the process, Mr. Osolos was crushed. He suffered a cardiac arrest at the scene," he said.

He said that Mr. Osolos underwent extensive surgery but died in the hospital.

He said that the health and safety executive's investigation is ongoing, but it is not yet clear why the beam moved.

The jury heard that the entire project was operated by Galliford Try Infrastructure, and Baldwins Crane Hire and JOS Structures were hired as subcontractors.

Lee Corbett, crane supervisor at Baldwins, said he has been supervising the movement of the beam to the bridge support, where the support will stop.

He said that before Galliford and JOS workers moved in to locate it, it had been lowered to within "a few inches from the landing site."

He said that after being told they were done, he had instructed crane operator Tony Wilson to slowly lower the beam.

Mr. Corbett said that a supervisor of JOS told him that “he is satisfied with the position of [beam] and said to reduce the weight of the crane and remove the lifting tackle”.

But when this happened, the beam "tilted to the left," he said.

"It's just a moment; a few seconds," he said.

"Chris must be on the left. He was crushed to death."

Mr. Corbett said he "just heard the shouting" and told Mr. Wilson to raise the beam again.

In testifying, Mr. Wilson said that after moving the beam into place, he was instructed to slowly lower it.

But it shook suddenly to the left, he said.

"Then I heard a scream. I immediately pulled up the lifting pole," he said.

Mr. Wilson said that the beam “may have moved only a quarter of a meter” and he “had no awareness” that Mr. Osolos had approached it before lowering it.

Paul Keating, JOS site director, told the investigation that he and his team had moved to the bearing side to apply mortar and were preparing to lower the beam.

He told the jury that the crane had lowered the beam into position until "for all intents and purposes, the beam has been lowered and landed".

Mr. Keating said that he had asked Mr. Osolos to remove the excess mortars, which were squeezed out when the beam fell to the ground.

"He would squat down to clear the mortar," Mr. Keating said.

"I didn't see the beam moving. I remember Chris screaming and the beam was lifted."

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