Letters / Time to take responsibility
So, SSE/VE have decided to test wind farm workers for Covid-19 before they come up to Shetland. How thoughtful of them!
Wind farm construction workers will be tested for Covid, Viking Energy confirms
They claim that there is no government requirement for them to do so but what, exactly, were they waiting for.
Total has been testing their workers for quite a number of months now and none of them can come up here to work without a negative test result for Covid. Once here, they are also given a temperature test prior to being allowed on site on a daily basis.
Wind farm workers were initially going to be accommodated at Sella Ness but apparently that was not good enough as it is more like a hostel than a hotel.
Most, if not all, are now scattered through the community in the north mainland in private accommodation. That, plus the lack of testing, has led us to where we are now.
At the moment, we have 84 confirmed cases of Covid with more test results pending and four people in the hospital with “respiratory illness”.
There are no words to adequately describe how angry I am at the whole situation. No one seemed capable or willing to take responsibility for preventing this from happening.
It is blatantly obvious that SSE/VE ‘care’ as much about the community of Shetland as they ‘care’ about the environment.
All SSE workers should be tested prior to arriving in Shetland no matter what subsidiary of the company they are working for, whether SSE Renewables or SSE Transmission.
It should make no difference whether they are working directly for these companies or if they are contractors or even subcontractors. No exceptions! No excuses!
Those who were elected to take care of the best interests of the community need to get on board to make sure that this happens.
No more abdication of responsibility or waiting for someone else to make a decision. It Total can have all the necessary testing procedures put in place then so can every other company. No more arguments. No more wasting time. Just get it done!
Rosemary Macklin
Tingwall
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