Contractor takes men off Shell site

Men removed from Shell site over health and safety breach

Anton McNulty

AN ERRIS-based contractor who was working on the Corrib gas terminal in Bellanaboy said he was forced to take nine of his men off the site because of what he claims was a serious breach of health and safety procedures.

Last Tuesday at 12.30pm, Bangor Erris-based contractor Colin Granahan ordered nine of his men, who were sub-contracted to work for Mercury Engineering, to leave the Corrib gas site. He felt that health and safety measures he had brought up with site management had not been dealt with in a sufficient manner.

Mr Granahan told The Mayo News he was sub-contracting for Mercury Engineering on the site for over a year without any complaint, but in the last number of weeks he said the health and safety procedures had dropped to such an extent that he felt he had to take his men off the site for their own safety. His company, ‘CG Roofing and General Builders’, also provides local labour to other contractors on the site, and he said they were still working because he had no problem with those contractors.

Mr Granahan said he made Mercury and Project Management – the company overlooking the entire site management – aware of the problems he was having and hoped they would be taken care of. In the last two weeks he met the management of Mercury, along with the Mercury Shop Steward, and made them aware of what he felt was a serious incident but was not satisfied with the way they were dealing with his concerns.

He said it was difficult to withdraw his men from their work in the current economic climate but felt that because health and safety had ‘gone out the gap’ he had no option.

“I have withdrawn my men because, in my belief, the health and safety of my men were being put at risk. In the past few weeks I have done my best to get it sorted out on site but it was getting worse and I had to say enough is enough. I went through the procedure with the necessary people regarding the breaches and I was informed by different people at different times that it was in hand. It has come to a stage where my position on the site is untenable,” he said.

A spokesperson for Shell E&P Ireland said the allegations of health and safety had been brought to the attention of the contractors and they had been refuted. He added that because the matter was between two sub-contractors, they were not prepared to comment any further on the matter.

Meanwhile, Chairperson of Pobaill Chill Chomáin, Vincent McGrath, and Mark Garavan met with Ireland West MEP, Seán Ó Neachtain, over the weekend where they discussed the petition filed with the EU Parliament Petitions Committee regarding the Corrib gas project. The meeting was part of a series of briefings being held by Pobail Chill Chomáin with local political representatives. These briefings are intended to inform politicians of the details of the proposal to relocate the proposed Shell refinery at Bellanaboy to a remote, uninhabited coastal location such as at Glinsk.

In a statement, they said that Sean Ó Neachtain committed his full support to the effort to find an agreed solution to the Corrib gas project. In particular, he committed himself to assisting in ensuring that the European Union played a positive role in furthering a resolution. Pobail Chill Chomáin intend to hold meetings with the other two local MEPs and reiterated their opinion that the existing project at Bellanaboy was a ‘cul de sac’.