Almost 300 workers have walked off a construction project in Hull due to health and safety fears, it has been reported.The incident is the latest in a series of walk outs by builders over safety and standards concerns, according to local papers, the Hull Daily Mail and the Yorkshire Post.
The 280 workers at the £200m energy-from-waste facility stopped working due to issues such as faulty fire alarms, the papers reported, as well as the state of facilities for contractors, including car parks and toilet facilities.
An unnamed source told the Hull Daily Mail: “The men working in these areas only knew there was an issue when members of their own workforce had to go back for them.
“The next day all of the contractors cabined up due to fears of safety on site.”
The worker claimed managers knew there had not been enough fire alarms across the site and blamed the cold weather for draining the batteries of the alarms that were installed.
An independent health and safety audit was undertaken at the site, which Energy Works Ltd said had confirmed it was ‘being operated in a safe manner’.
A statement said: “There has been an unofficial action which involved approximately 280 of the 480-strong workforce withdrawing their labour from the site.
“The Principal Contractor, M+W Group, anticipates a swift resolution to this matter, which will see the full resumption of works on site.”
The large EfW plant aims to turn residual household waste from across the country into gas for energy. It recently completed the Energy Academy element of the scheme, which incorporates the control room for plant, as well as education and research and development facilities created in partnership with the University of Hull.
Construction of the project should be completed by the end of 2018.
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