12:44pm Wednesday 2nd July 2008
Dragon LNG has hit back at workers' claims that health and safety fears at the site have been ignored for a year and that it has taken a death to bring the issue to a head.
Around 600 workers downed tools at the site in protest over health and safety issues, following the death of their colleague Tony Luff at the site on Sunday.
Mr Luff died of natural causes at around 1pm. He was evacuated from where he was working and taken to Withybush Hospital at 3.53pm.
"We were all saddened by the sudden death, from natural causes, of Mr Tony Luff and our first thoughts at this time are with his fiancé and family, to whom we send our heartfelt condolences. Tony will be greatly missed by his friends and colleagues on site," said a spokesman for the company.
"We are also further saddened this tragic event has led to some people working taking further industrial action."
The spokesman said that workers had claimed that radios used on the site were not working at the time of the fatality.
"We firmly believe that there is no merit in the concerns raised and that they are not supported with any firm evidence," continued the spokesman.
"There is absolutely no evidence to suggest the radios failed. Indeed the medical teams responded as a result of a radio call and all subsequent actions were co-ordinated by radio."
The spokesman said that worker safety has been of paramount importance throughout the construction project and that site safety is overseen by a joint safety committee.
Following Sunday's incident the emergency response procedure at the site has been reviewed.
"We find that it worked well," said the representative, "with site medical attention arriving at the scene in less than five minutes.
Our medical response team are both well qualified and very experienced. They acted in a "thoroughly professional manner."
Management at the site are currently in negotiations with trade union representatives. It is believed that employees will return to work tomorrow.
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