Data Center Construction Workers: What the Reporting Shows

Short answer: A five-month cross-border investigation by Investigate Europe, reported through Tech Policy Press on October 30, 2026, describes electrocution, overcrowded worker housing, unpaid overtime and weak enforcement on European data center construction sites. The companies named were approached for comment, official accounts in the reporting do not line up, and the EU-level measures on subcontracting are proposed but not yet law. The evidence is reported journalism, not court findings. The safest reading is serious allegations, partly contested, with enforcement gaps per the reporting.

This page is our summary of that third-party reporting. It is not our own investigation or test of any site. Readers new to the subject can start with the explainer on what an AI data center is.

Data Center Construction Workers: What the Investigation Reported

Tech Policy Press published the reporting by Mei-Ling McNamara and Jan Daalder. It describes a five-month Investigate Europe investigation carried out with media partners in eight countries. The cases it covers are in Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands. Detail below is as the article presents it.

An Electrocution at a Google Site in Belgium

The article reports that in March an electrical tester was electrocuted at a Google site in Saint-Ghislain. He was testing lines that were supposed to be de-energized. He reported burns to 12% of his body and a five-day induced coma. Belgium's federal labor inspectorate closed its investigation at the end of October and found no wrongdoing. No fines or sanctions are known. The worker says labor authorities never interviewed him directly. For context on construction safety generally: Eurostat reports 776 construction deaths in the European Union (EU) in 2024. That is nearly a quarter of all fatal workplace accidents, according to the article's citation of Eurostat.

Contractor Housing at a Microsoft Site in Sweden

At the Microsoft expansion in Gävle, Sweden, workers reported rat infestations, broken ventilation and no heating in winter. The housing was provided by contractors. One worker reported 24 people sharing a kitchen and 14 men sharing a bathroom. A Romanian worker was diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) in February. Workers estimate that 10 to 12 men were infected. The Gävle county medical officer reported one case, and Sweden's Public Health Agency reported no outbreak. The infection count is contested, and the two official accounts do not match.

Discipline, Hours and Pay

Workers described the following management practices:

• A "yellow card / red card" discipline system.
• Hours-long interrogations and forced written confessions.
• Twice-weekly issue reporting, with threatened pay deductions.
• Reinduction training given in English rather than Romanian.

Over 30 workers shared hundreds of payslips with the investigation. The payslips show weeks of up to 60 hours with no overtime pay. Some workers reported no paid holiday for five years. Migrant workers were reportedly paid up to 30% less than their Swedish counterparts. A subcontractor allegedly withheld nearly SEK 10 million (about €900,000) from 78 men. A union-brokered settlement of SEK 15 million (about €1.3 million) was reached. The article describes it as the first collective agreement in Sweden for migrant workers.

Subcontracting Chains and Who Is Responsible

One theme in the reporting is long subcontracting chains. The Swedish Work Environment Authority counted 148 firms working under the main contractor at Gävle, 28 of them direct subcontractors. The enforcement record in the article is also relevant. One contractor has been fined 12 times since 2019. Since 2021 there have been 50 cases involving Microsoft and several contractors. One contractor received a stop-work order in 2024. In the Netherlands, a Dutch employment body ordered a contractor to pay extended sick pay to an injured worker until May 2026. The worker says payments stopped in September 2025. The union FNV says it was refused entry to a contractor site in September. The reporting does not establish wrongdoing by Google, Microsoft or Amazon themselves. The proposed Quality Jobs Act, covered below, would call for joint liability across subcontracting chains.

What Regulators and Companies Said

Official accounts in the reporting do not line up. Belgium's labor inspectorate found no wrongdoing in the electrocution case, and the worker says no labor authority interviewed him directly. In Gävle, the county medical officer and Sweden's Public Health Agency gave different accounts of the tuberculosis cases. The companies named in the investigation were approached for comment, according to the article. This summary does not include detailed company replies, so the company side is incomplete here. The article does not establish wrongdoing by Google, Microsoft or Amazon.

Scale of the Build-Out Behind the Sites

The article cites these figures for the European data center build-out. EUDCA forecasts €100 billion in European data center investment by 2030. Euronews reports over 2,300 facilities in Europe, with hundreds more planned or under construction. The article puts the workforce at up to 2,000 workers per site. It also says roughly 250,000 people work on European sites each day. Microsoft's Gävle expansion covers 130 hectares and SEK 33.7 billion (about €3 billion). Reuters reports that work on it began in June 2024. Gävle is one of the sites described above, so the 148-firm count and the housing reports belong to this larger build. For the jobs side of the same expansion, see the explainer on whether data centers create jobs.

Policy Response and What Could Change It

The European Parliamentary Research Service puts the number of staff supporting labor law enforcement across the EU at fewer than 140 in 2025. The European Labour Authority says it has no independent inspection or enforcement powers. Two EU measures address subcontracting. The European Commission is preparing a Quality Jobs Act that would call for joint liability across subcontracting chains. The European Parliament has adopted a report on subcontracting by a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Neither measure is in force. A court finding or new inspection outcome in the Belgian or Gävle cases would change the record, because the reporting contains no court findings. The Quality Jobs Act, if adopted, would be the EU-level change to watch.

What Readers Can Look For and Do Next

Four points the reporting raises about the cases above.

• How many firms sit below the main contractor? At Gävle, 148 firms worked under the main contractor, 28 of them direct subcontractors.
• Who provides the housing? At Gävle, the housing was contractor-provided, and workers reported rats, broken ventilation, no heating and crowded shared kitchens and bathrooms.
• Do the payslips match the hours? Workers reported up to 60-hour weeks with no overtime pay.
• What is the enforcement record of the contractors involved? One contractor has been fined 12 times since 2019, and one contractor received a stop-work order in 2024.

Readers who want to act on a proposed data center can start with the guide on how to stop a data center or the Fighting Back page.

Questions About Data Center Construction Workers

What did the investigation report about worker safety?

The investigation reported an electrocution at a Google site in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, where an electrical tester reported burns to 12% of his body and a five-day induced coma. It also reported a tuberculosis diagnosis for a worker in Gävle, Sweden, where workers estimate 10 to 12 men were infected. The Gävle county medical officer reported one case, and Sweden's Public Health Agency reported no outbreak.

Who is responsible when conditions go wrong on these sites?

The reporting does not say who is legally responsible. It points to subcontracting chains, where Gävle had 148 firms working under the main contractor and 28 direct subcontractors. The proposed Quality Jobs Act would call for joint liability across subcontracting chains, but it is not in force.

Has anyone been found guilty of wrongdoing?

No court finding appears in the reporting. Belgium's federal labor inspectorate closed its investigation into the Saint-Ghislain electrocution at the end of October and found no wrongdoing, and no fines or sanctions are known in that case. Separately, Swedish authorities fined one contractor 12 times since 2019 and issued another a stop-work order in 2024, and a Dutch employment body ordered a contractor to pay extended sick pay to an injured worker until May 2026.

Are EU protections for these workers in force?

Not yet for the subcontracting measures. The European Commission is preparing a Quality Jobs Act that would call for joint liability across subcontracting chains, and the European Parliament has adopted a report on subcontracting. The European Labour Authority says it has no independent inspection or enforcement powers, and fewer than 140 staff supported labor law enforcement across the EU in 2025.

Are conditions the same on every site?

The reporting covers specific sites in Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, and the investigation also covered Norway. Conditions may differ by site and country. This summary does not establish conditions at any site the article does not describe.

Sources: Tech Policy Press, "Electrocutions, Intimidation and Wage Theft Haunt Europe's Data Center Workers" by Mei-Ling McNamara and Jan Daalder, published October 30, 2026, reporting a five-month Investigate Europe investigation with media partners in eight countries. Figures attributed to Eurostat, EUDCA, Euronews, Reuters and the European Parliamentary Research Service are as cited in the article. This page summarizes third-party reporting as of October 30, 2026. It is not our own investigation or test.