Spanish nationals from the Gambia

[sooey]

Five were killed at work yesterday while working for an agency at a recycling plant in Birmingham.
Whilst being a terribly tragic story for the poor men and their families, it highlights even more the absurdity of the EU free movement b0llox.
Especially with Turkey vying to join amid talk about them offering citizenship to millions of Syrians.

 

[bernardgreen]

It also might be a case of lax health and safety procedures which British workers may have raised concerns about while immigrant workers from a country with lower ( enforcement of ) standards of health and safety would have accepted the lower standards as "normal".

While all member states are required to have identical standards of health and safety in the work place it is known that the enforcement of these standards can be lax in some member states.

 

[JohnD]

it is known that the enforcement of these standards can be lax in some member states.

You are suggesting lax safety enforcement in the UK.

Are you also suggesting that a corner-cutting UK employer took advantage of powerless ununionised workers at the bottom of the heap (in more ways than one)?

 

[jeds]

As most of us will realise a 15 or 16 foot high wall holding back steel scrap isn't an ordinary wall. Looking at the reports it looks like it was purpose built, and presumably purpose designed, and apparently was only built two years ago. Unless it was damaged in some way I can't imagine anybody would have been thinking it might collapse.

 

[JohnD]

Maybe the bay was overloaded, loose scrap piled too high.

Sooey seems to think it is related to movement of workers who are not EU citizens. I am pretty sure that is not what caused the collapse.

 

[sooey]

Sooey seems to think it is related to movement of workers who are not EU citizens. I am pretty sure that is not what caused the collapse

Seeing as I said "it highlights even more the absurdity of the EU free movement b0llox." and nothing at all about the cause of the collapse you seem to be playing with words as you always do when you have no reasonable counter argument.

 

[bernardgreen]

You are suggesting lax safety in the UK

it is known that the enforcement of these standards can be lax in some member states.

note enforcement may be lax. Inadequate or corrupt enforcement procedures / officers allows companies to get away with unsafe processes and the use of unsafe equipment. Whistle blowers are not listened to and risk losing their job.

Compliance with safety standards could be lax in some companies in the UK but the health and safety regulator and enforcement officers in the UK are not lax in dealing with reported incidents of failure to comply. Enforcement in other member states may be lax and maybe the work forces are less prepared to report health and safety issues.

The company was fined in 2012 when a worker suffered serious arm injuries and earlier this year had a major fire in piles of scrap metal which suggest lack of safety in the way the metal was being stored.

 

[JohnD]

Sooey seems to think it is related to movement of workers who are not EU citizens.

Let's see him try to deny it.

Even Sooey must know that "free movement" applies to EU citizens, so irrelevant here; and that Turkey is not an EU member, so irrelevant here; and the dead men were not Syrians, so irrelevant here.

Sooey just doesn't like foreigners.

 

[sooey]

Try to deny what? Specifically..

 

[jeds]

Maybe the bay was overloaded, loose scrap piled too high.

That's a question of design. A bay designed for scrap metal should be capable of not just being filled but being overfilled - because all designers/engineers know there is a high possibility that it will be overfilled. We obviously have no idea of the circumstances here but if it was purpose built and purpose designed - as it looks like - I can't see any reason why any worker would question that, Spanish/Gambian or otherwise. Of course it may not have been designed at all - they may have just got a couple of steels, rammed them in the ground and infilled with panels off ebay. But even then would workers realise that?

 

[JohnD]

I'm disappointed that you are pretending to be unable to read.

 

[JohnD]

I can't see any reason why any worker would question that, Spanish/Gambian or otherwise.

Quite.

I wonder why people are trying to find a reason for the workers nationality being relevant to the collapse. Victim-blaming, perhaps

 

[sooey]

I am neither disappointed nor surprised that you have no counter argument to the point I was making.
i.e. The EU freedom of movement rules are being exploited by foreign nationals from poor countries to gain access to the UK jobs market, specifically by gaining citizenship to other EU countries knowing that will allow them too come here, and without ever intending to live in the countries they have been granted citizenship of. And it's all legal, and there's nothing we can do about it while we are part of the EU.
Which is why the referendum result went the way that it did.
Though there are still many who are just to plain stupid to see that.

 

[JohnD]

Are you claiming that the five dead men had acquired EU citizenship?

 

[sooey]

Sooey just doesn't like foreigners.

Ahh, the old racist argument again.
In the old days it was "witch" or "heretic" when tw*ts like you wanted to label someone.