Post by hi224 on Jan 10, 2020 7:09:26 GMT
die in their sleep?
Crossrail is a huge project connecting the East and West of London, and points beyond, with a 13-mile double railway tunnel through the centre, upgrades to existing lines and a fleet of new trains. It has been described as the "largest current engineering project in Europe" and is late, although a grip appears to have been got of it.
Last year two construction contractors died in their sleep; this caused general disquiet amid the workforce then two more died similarly within three days.
Before the last two deaths there had been a walkout when raised dust levels were found.
Reporting was confined to the specialist construction press then, in October, Metro (free morning newspaper) reported a fifth death, which brought further national press coverage.
Most if not all of the deaths appear to have been from heart attacks. There is a lot of contradictory information around about working conditions; the Metro story states that dust monitors were frequently showing danger and oxygen levels were poor, but another story in the specialist press notes that nothing untoward was found by testing, although that appears not to have been done fully independently.
Things seem to have quietened down, but the bottom line is that five members of a workforce of 500-600 died unexpectedly in less than a year.
Is this explicable by chance, or is there something more sinister going on?
(For the record I have worked on big projects, some considerably larger than 600 people, for 30 years. Although that is in IT rather than civil engineering, so is undoubtedly safer, I cannot recall a single death of a fellow worker at all, never mind one that was unexpected).
Crossrail is a huge project connecting the East and West of London, and points beyond, with a 13-mile double railway tunnel through the centre, upgrades to existing lines and a fleet of new trains. It has been described as the "largest current engineering project in Europe" and is late, although a grip appears to have been got of it.
Last year two construction contractors died in their sleep; this caused general disquiet amid the workforce then two more died similarly within three days.
Before the last two deaths there had been a walkout when raised dust levels were found.
Reporting was confined to the specialist construction press then, in October, Metro (free morning newspaper) reported a fifth death, which brought further national press coverage.
Most if not all of the deaths appear to have been from heart attacks. There is a lot of contradictory information around about working conditions; the Metro story states that dust monitors were frequently showing danger and oxygen levels were poor, but another story in the specialist press notes that nothing untoward was found by testing, although that appears not to have been done fully independently.
Things seem to have quietened down, but the bottom line is that five members of a workforce of 500-600 died unexpectedly in less than a year.
Is this explicable by chance, or is there something more sinister going on?
(For the record I have worked on big projects, some considerably larger than 600 people, for 30 years. Although that is in IT rather than civil engineering, so is undoubtedly safer, I cannot recall a single death of a fellow worker at all, never mind one that was unexpected).