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Union calls for action after wind farm death
Credit: Stephen Bark | Cumnock Chronicle | www.cumnockchronicle.com ~~
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A union has called on the UK Government and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to take action after a pensioner died following an incident at Afton Wind Farm on Sunday.
The 74-year-old man, who has yet to be named, and his 42-year-old colleague became stranded in the heavy snow before being rescued by the Police Scotland Mountain Rescue Team.
It was the third death at a wind farm in recent times and Unite Scotland are now urging the HSE to act now to stiffen the laws governing the construction and maintenance of windfarms.
Stevie Dillion of Unite Scotland said: “How long is it going to be before the Government and HSE take action to prevent these totally avoidable deaths? How many more workers will perish because nothing has been done to establish proper legal safeguards for the construction and maintenance of wind farms?”
“Our experience shows that some of the conditions which workers on windfarms have to put up with represent a return to the ‘bad old days’ in the construction industry before unionisation. Of course the laws governing wind farms should be a special case. But right now Unite is building the union on wind farm sites to fight for better terms and safer working conditions.”
The two men were left without heat or power at the wind farm near to Craigdarroch Farm in New Cumnock on Sunday night. It is understood they struggled to call for help but it is not known how long they were in difficulty. Police Scotland’s Mountain Rescue Team traced the pair after the alarm was finally raised and the elderly man was airlifted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he died a short time later.
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| Tag: Accidents |
