Europe’s datacentres expose workers to electrocutions, disease and risk of exploitation

A live electrical test

Sandu, a 34-year-old electrical tester, says he was nearing the end of a nearly 10-hour shift at a Google datacentre site in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, when he was called to a job. He says last-minute work was common and workers risked dismissal if they refused.

Sandu says managers told him the lines were de-energised. During a second test, he linked cables with insulated tongs, but the lines were live. Hospital records show burns covering 12% of his body, including second-degree burns to his face and neck and third-degree burns to his right shoulder and fingers.

Crowded housing in Sweden

On a Microsoft datacentre expansion site near Gävle, workers employed by BenBau showed evidence of crowded living quarters. They said 24 people shared a kitchen and 14 men used one bathroom, while reports of vermin, broken ventilation and inadequate heating during sub-zero winters had not resolved the problems. BenBau said it takes welfare, health and safety concerns seriously and has procedures for reporting, investigating and addressing workplace concerns.

Pay and workplace incidents

More than 30 workers provided hundreds of payslips that appear to show some working up to 50 or 60 hours a week without overtime pay and missing holiday pay. Unions said inequity can arise quickly when foreign workers are unfamiliar with local laws.

Earlier this month, a contractor fell through a roof hatch while maintaining a ventilation system at the Gävle site, according to a freedom of information request to AV. In October 2021, a forklift allegedly ran over a Collen supervisor’s foot there, leading to surgery.

A Collen incident report said the wrong machine was used, the driver lacked a formal certificate and the lift plan was incomplete, although it had been signed off. The Work Environment Authority found no grounds to refer the employer to prosecutors.

Investigation across four countries

The Guardian and Investigate Europe examined migrant workers’ conditions on datacentre sites in Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands over five months. Their reporting found evidence of serious injuries, poor living conditions, an unreported infectious outbreak, unpaid wages and exploitative employment practices.

The Gävle project is part of a 130-hectare, €3bn Microsoft expansion that began in June 2024 to increase its AI datacentre infrastructure. The investigation places workers’ accounts against the rapid construction of datacentres across Europe.