Hertfordshire hydrogen gigafactory suspensions: programme and safety notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
Thirty construction workers on Johnson Matthey’s planned hydrogen gigafactory in Hertfordshire remain suspended and risk dismissal after the client refused to reinstate their site access passes. The dispute affects a major process-industrial build, likely involving large-scale structural steelwork, extensive M&E integration and hazardous-area design typical of hydrogen production facilities. Prolonged loss of this workforce could disrupt programme sequencing, specialist installation continuity and commissioning schedules, with knock-on effects for contractors’ labour planning and cost control.
Technical Brief
- Loss of passes effectively triggers a client-imposed exclusion zone for the affected personnel.
- Suspension status indicates site security and access control systems are central to workforce management.
- Client control over pass activation gives de facto authority over who can enter safety-critical areas.
- Any dismissal process will intersect with CDM 2015 duties around competence and supervision on site.
- Workforce reduction at short notice can compromise safe sequencing of high-risk construction activities.
- For hydrogen and other COMAH-type facilities, strict access control is a primary safety barrier.
- Similar process-industrial projects increasingly rely on digital pass systems to enforce training and permit-to-work compliance.
Our Take
Johnson Matthey appears only sporadically in our 527-item Infrastructure corpus, so labour and safety issues at its Hertfordshire hydrogen gigafactory will be watched closely as an indicator of how established chemicals players handle workforce risk on new-energy manufacturing sites.
Among the 1,441 Projects/Safety-tagged pieces, most safety coverage concerns construction contractors rather than technology owners, suggesting that any dismissals here could sharpen contract language and supervision expectations between Johnson Matthey and its delivery partners on hydrogen facilities.
With Hertfordshire featuring infrequently in our infrastructure project tracking compared with major industrial hubs, disruption at a flagship hydrogen gigafactory risks making local planning bodies more cautious on future large-scale energy-transition manufacturing consents in the county.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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