THE MANAGEMENT of the firms contracted to decommission the former Murco Oil Refinery site in Milford Haven are remaining tight lipped about work stopping on the site on Tuesday (Nov 7).

Several workers and contractors at the refinery, which is being dismantled and shipped to Pakistan, have contacted this newspaper to say that they were told to down tools and were sent home. Workers told The Herald that they were not sure if or when they would be going back to work.

SOLICITORS TRY TO SILENCE HERALD

In a separate development, following the exposé in The Herald on 22nd October, WRD Ltd have instructed Manchester based solicitors Farleys LLP to try and gag The Pembrokeshire Herald from printing any further articles, and have threatened us with legal action for publishing what workers said, claiming they are libellous defamatory statements.

They also want the article Murco: Someone is going to die taken of the Pembrokeshire Herald website, presumably because it is not good for business.

The Health and Safety Executive is currently investigating a serious accident which took place in May, the worker involved is still at home recovering/ having received what a family member has described, as life changing injuries.

But the solicitor’s letter went on to seemingly pass the buck from WRD Ltd to the other contractor REM Engineering Ltd. It said: “The stark reality is that the statements [in the article], regardless of their veracity in all likelihood relate to REM Engineering Ltd and not WRD.”

But WRD and REM have denied that work had come to a stop for health and safety reasons, and that the present time they were in compliance with health and safety rules. Through their solicitor they said: “Our clients confirm that work at the site has not been stopped due to any health and safety breaches. Our clients confirm that neither company are currently in breach of any health and safety regulations.

INSPECTION FOLLOWING HERALD ARTICLE

One worker on site who telephoned The Pembrokeshire Herald on Tuesday said: “Top engineers and bosses walked around site last week after your story was printed, and were happy with everything –  but three days later everyone sent off site.

Attributing what had happened to “client and health and safety issues”, he told this newspaper that sixty three people were sent home from the former refinery.

Our source added: “My boss said to me to blame the whistle-blowers… ‘Blame your friends who talked to The Herald’ he said.
“They said they would be in touch [about getting back to work], but it is not great this side of Christmas.
“Another employee asked how long [the shutdown was] for, but he was told it was a zero hour contract. It wasn’t true.”

This was also confirmed by a secondary source

PROBE CONTINUES

Jack Rimmer from the Health and Safety Executive told The Herald on Tuesday: “We have spoken with our inspectors regarding your enquiry.

“HSE’s investigation into the incident in May is ongoing, and HSE is not aware of the reasons why work has stopped.

“HSE does not have any involvement in commercial or contractual decisions are a matter for the company.