At least 140 people have been taken to hospital after incidents at JD
Sports’s controversial warehouse in Rochdale in the last four years.
A freedom of information request obtained by the Guardian shows that
ambulances have been dispatched to the site 166 times in the last four
years, with 140 of these incidents leading to someone being transported
to hospital.
The
revelation comes after an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News
found workers claiming that the warehouse was “worse than a prison”.
JD said it was “deeply disappointed and concerned by the footage” but
insisted that it did not believe it was an accurate reflection of its
culture.
Lynne Brosnan, a local Labour councillor, said she was “not happy”
with the new figures. About 1,500 people, including hundreds of agency
staff, work at the site. This means that the equivalent of almost one in
10 workers have gone to hospital in the last four years.
The
figures show that there were 18 times in 2013 when an ambulance
transported someone from the site to hospital and then 52 in 2014, 34 in
2015 and 36 in 2016. The number of ambulances dispatched was 21 in
2013, 60 in 2014, 44 in 2015, and 41 in 2016.
Brosnan said: “This is not what we were promised when Kingsway [the
site of the warehouse] started. There is a way of treating employees and
it is not like third-class citizens.
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