Argos has been criticised for allowing workers to return to a Reading warehouse after a methane gas leak.

An employee from the retailer's Reading 'fulfilment centre' on Island Road has come forward to express his concerns over the way the leak was handled last week. 

Staff were told by management on Wednesday, October 9 that there had been an 'unknown gas leak' in the building which was later identified as methane. 

Despite this, the worker, who has asked to remain anonymous, claimed they were told to continue working there from 1pm until 10pm along with a team of 60 people. 

An Argos spokesman said safety is their "highest priority". 

Explaining the situation, the employee said: "As I drove in [for my shift] I saw all of the team huddled together outside the centre with the managers and there was a bunch of red and white bollards around the unit," they said. 

"Originally I thought it might be a fire alarm drill, but that wouldn't make sense with the barriers."

The crews were then ushered into the car park next to the building and told to drive in and out of the unit as far away as possible from the actual centre. 

"They also told us not to smoke, so at that point I realised it must be a gas leak," they said. 

At around  2pm, an hour after the workers had started their shift, management told them that there had indeed been a gas leak but gave limited information. 

They said that they were currently waiting for someone to take a sample from the area, but also said that this could take hours to come back to confirm that the building was safe or not. 

"It's a massive mess what's going on. The way they have handled this is very bad, and we still don't know if it is safe for anyone to go into or not," they said. 

"It was causing me a lot of anxiety."

Despite management knowing that there was a potentially dangerous gas leak on the premises, they allegedly did not make any efforts to close the area or tell the workers to go home. 

At around 5pm the staff were then informed that it was a methane leak that had come from somewhere else on the site. 

Methane gas exposure can cause health problems if exposed to concentrated quantities or exposed for extended periods of times. 

"We were then told the next day to just come in as normal," the worker relayed.

After they had started their shift management called a team meeting where they were informed that the professionals investigating the gas leak had advised that it was unsafe for people to go into the building.

"Despite this, we have continuously been asked to keep returning to work as normal. It isn't just the building that is at risk but the whole business park. I feel unsafe going to work," they claimed. 

An Argos spokesperson, who gave their statement on Friday, October 11, said that their Local Fulfilment Centre in Reading closed temporarily on Thursday, October 10 while a methane leak in the area was investigated.

They said "Safety is our highest priority and we took immediate action when this was brought to our attention. The site was evacuated at 08.30 am on Wednesday and colleagues were taken to safe areas designated by Southern Gas Network.

"Following thorough testing and continued monitoring, we have reopened as usual this morning.”

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