Electric Shocks, Illness, No Pay: Workers Under Pressure in Europe’s Data Centers

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Electric Shocks, Illness, No Pay: Workers Under Pressure in Europe’s Data Centers.

Nearly 10 hours into his shift, 34-year-old electrical inspector Sandu* had already worked at the site of a large Google data center in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, when another assignment came in shortly before the end of the working day. It involved testing the safety and integrity of the electrical wiring — a task he said he had carried out many times before.

This brings a concrete everyday situation into focus: The protective suit was in a locked equipment room. Collecting it and returning would have taken 15 minutes, while people were already waiting for him. Sandu* decided not to fetch the protective equipment and continued working.

The story illustrates the risks that The Guardian and Investigate Europe documented in their investigation of the booming construction of data centers in Europe. As thousands of data centers are built, the media are reporting on dangerous working conditions, illness, unpaid work and pressure not to speak out.

The Pressure Starts Before Anyone Is Fired

The final minutes are decisive

The case shows how employees can come under pressure even before a specific dismissal. The assignment arrived shortly before the end of the shift after almost 10 hours of work. The protective clothing was not immediately accessible, the additional journey would have taken longer and other people were already waiting.

Sandu* describes such short-notice assignments as normal. His explanation is clear:

I had no choice. People were fired after they said no.

This leaves affected workers facing a difficult calculation: Anyone who demands protective measures or refuses an assignment apparently risks more than a few minutes. At the same time, the decisive working conditions only become apparent once the strain has continued for almost 10 hours.

Three Key Risks in Data Center Construction

Electric shocks, illness and missing pay

The investigation groups the dangers facing workers into three areas: electric shocks, illness and unpaid work. Sandu*’s documented assignment illustrates at least the first risk. During electrical inspections, protective equipment is an essential part of safety. If it is kept in a separate location or is not available in time, workers face pressure to abandon the safety requirement in favor of the work rhythm.

The investigation therefore describes more than isolated technical shortcomings. Work organization, the handling of protective equipment and the consequences of dissent are closely intertwined. This is precisely where the risk of exploitation lies: Workers may have to choose between taking an additional safety step and losing their jobs.

Why Silence Becomes a Survival Strategy

Fear of reprisals

The Guardian’s investigation reports that some workers are afraid to disclose their experiences. This accords with Sandu*’s account: He said people had already been fired after refusing an assignment. For anyone reporting on such consequences, merely speaking about the possible repercussions poses an additional risk.

The report also makes clear that the incidents are not limited to individual workers. It refers to evidence concerning some of the workers building Europe’s data centers. This shifts the focus toward a system of growth, time pressure and dependent employment in which individual incidents attract attention only once they have been documented.

What the Documented Experience Reveals About the Gravity of the Situation

A report, not a blanket condemnation

Sandu*’s experience makes the problem tangible without allowing every detail of the investigation to be inferred from it. The published passage does not provide a complete overview of all affected construction sites or locations. But it does establish a concrete conflict: The worker was unable to collect his protective equipment in time, had to continue working under time pressure and feared the consequences of refusing.

How quickly companies respond to such reports and which inspections are in place during data center construction therefore remain crucial to the assessment. Focusing on a single shift is not enough to determine the scale of the problem. It does, however, show how time pressure can turn into a concrete safety risk — and why workers are unlikely to speak openly under conditions in which people have already been fired.