Electrocutions, disease, no pay: workers risk exploitation in Europe datacentres

A five-month investigation into Europe’s datacentre construction boom documents how migrant workers face serious safety risks and labour abuses across projects in Belgium, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands. In Belgium, electrical tester Sandu suffered severe burns and temporary blindness when he was told power lines were off but they were live; he says pressure to finish the job and retrieve no protective suit contributed to the danger. Authorities closed the investigation without finding wrongdoing. The reporting also found cramped, poorly heated housing and vermin at a Microsoft project in Gävle, Sweden, where a Romanian worker contracted tuberculosis. Workers said others were not promptly informed and that an infected man’s room was reassigned.

More than 30 workers provided pay records indicating weeks of 50 to 60 hours without overtime or holiday pay. A union negotiated a settlement with subcontractor BenBau for back pay and union access for workers at Gävle. Swedish authorities have opened 50 cases involving working conditions at datacentre sites since 2021; records also describe unsafe equipment use and other accidents. The investigation links these problems to long subcontracting chains, limited union access and workers’ unfamiliarity with local labour laws, while unions warn that rapid technology investment is relying on vulnerable migrant labour. Google, Microsoft, BenBau, Collen Construction and Dornan Engineering said they require or pursue compliance with safety and labour standards.