Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO's Epic Waste of Money (300 Million Euros) Ended up Not Only a Fire Hazard But Also a Suffocation Risk

The European Patent Office's (EPO) "New Main"; beware the 'loose bits'



Summary: The Hague branch of the EPO reports yet another potentially deadly Nouvel incident; the EPO's workplace safety is appalling even if one survives the endemic depression and chronic Upper Limb Disorder (ULD)

PREMATURELY 'inaugurated' by Battistelli (to avoid António Campinos taking any credit) was a faulty building -- or rather a construction site -- which was rumoured to be the source of funding for Battistelli's 'suite' in Munich (quite a scandal in its own right).



"Mind the lift" is the title of a new internal publication, which follows many others about safety risks -- e.g. fires [1, 2, 3, 4] -- which became a hallmark of the Nouvel building (whose construction team too was reportedly harmed physically -- by falls -- and builder made huge losses).

Nouvel has repeatedly proven to be an overhyped piece of glass and a massive waste of EPO money. As a reader of ours put it, "300 Mio Euros of Applicants' Money really well spent?

"Let's hope that the colleagues trapped into the lift will catch up their production since the targets are here to be met!"

Remember the above video of the building? It's only a matter of time until EPO workers -- or stakeholders -- die in it. The prior building too had issues; the windows were in fact bolted down after a colleague had jumped out the window. Picture that. It's like a prison to them. Here's the latest episode of this "Russian Roulette":

STAFF UNION OF THE EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

Local section The Hague Section locale La Haye

29 January 2020 su20003hp

New Main: Mind the Lift

Dear SUEPO Members, dear Colleagues,

Recently, we have been made aware of several incidents caused by a malfunctioning of the lifts of the New Main building in The Hague. This will be no surprise to most – if not all – of you, since the unsatisfactory functioning of the lifts has been a recurrent topic in staff's conversations since the inauguration of the building.

However, one of the most recent incidents took a more serious twist, as it involved 14 people, who remained trapped in a lift for one hour before getting freed. Some of the affected colleagues reported symptoms of nausea due to a shortage of oxygen, and a tense atmosphere inside the lift shortly after it got stuck. It was also reported that the response team was not well prepared to deal with this type of emergencies.

The incidents seem to occur regularly since the move into New Main. This raises the question of whether they pose a serious threat to staff’s safety.

We therefore urge management to promptly react, e.g. with a sound maintenance or repair plan, in order to guarantee the safety of all the users of the lifts.

It should not be an issue to solve this problem quickly. The Office has all the necessary (financial) means it needs. In any event we will follow up the matter and keep you posted.

Your SUEPO Committee The Hague



EPO is a high-financed "Russian Roulette"; who will survive the journey?

Russian_Roulette_EPO_New_Building

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
 
We're in 6/6 Now, Almost Halfway in 2025
2025 was probably the best year for us
South Americans Are Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
We're hardly even "Cherry-Picking" or conveniently singling out one South American nation
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part III: Data Protection Failures, Just Like at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Just less than a decade ago we showed that the EPO had illegally shared staff data with third parties
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 05, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 05, 2025
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
Links for the day
Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
Links for the day
Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day