Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Child drove digger on construction site, tribunal told

Former Vattenfall site manager, Roger Hammond has won a wrongful dismissal case against the energy giant. (Picture: Jim Irvine)
Former Vattenfall site manager, Roger Hammond has won a wrongful dismissal case against the energy giant. (Picture: Jim Irvine)

A whistleblower has claimed he was sacked by a north-east energy firm after he reported a child had driven a digger on a major construction site and workers were taking drugs.

Roger Hammond alleges Vattenfall terminated his contract because it wanted to cover up significant health and safety breaches – including widespread substance abuse – at its Aberdeen Offshore Windfarm (AOWF) onshore substation at Blackdog.

However, the company has argued that Mr Hammond was sacked from his role as site manager because of his fractured relationship with his colleagues, one of whom accused him of sexual harassment.

Yesterday he gave evidence at an employment tribunal in Aberdeeen where he is suing the firm for unfair dismissal.

The tribunal heard that Mr Hammond, from Warrington, found out that a health and safety officer at the development allowed her daughter to drive an excavator while contractor JM Murphy’s regional manager held onto the side of the vehicle.

But when he alerted his superiors about the incident, which took place last December, he claimed they failed to take any action.

Mr Hammond, whose real first name is Barry, also said in a witness statement that he suspected one of his colleagues was smoking cannabis and claimed to have witnessed the same person taking cocaine in his trailer.

He further alleged that he had been told by a worker on the site that a number of staff had been on a night out and had filmed themselves taking the illegal substance.

When he relayed this to senior management he claimed he received no support and his next communication was to inform him, in February, that he had been sacked.

Mr Hammond’s solicitor Nigel Grundy read out email correspondence between senior management in which a health and safety boss urged a cautious approach after Mr Hammond called for a blanket drug and alcohol test at the site.

Those exchanges showed that a similar operation at another Vatenfall development found 80% of tested staff had drugs or alcohol in their system, “right up to director level”, Mr Grundy said.

Under cross-examination by Vattenfall’s solicitor Euan Smith, Mr Hammond denied that his line managers had expressed concern about his performance.

He also denied that his relationship had broken down with other colleagues.

However Mr Smith cited the witness statements of several of Mr Hammond’s co-workers who claimed staff on site felt intimidated by him.

Mr Smith put it to Mr Hammond that his relationship had got so bad that a health and safety officer had accused him of sexual harassment.

But Mr Hammond dismissed this as an attempt to “smear him” after he had highlighted the problems at the substation.

The tribunal continues.