黑洞社区

Developers and contractors are warning of the perils of Pok茅mon Go players trespassing on construction sites, putting themselves in danger in their attempts to 鈥渃atch 鈥榚m all鈥�.

黑洞社区 has been told clients and contractors have begun issuing guidance to suppliers and staff of the risks of absent-minded Pok茅mon players intentionally or inadvertently wandering on to sites when playing the new hit 鈥渁ugmented reality鈥� game.

Pok茅mon Go - which has taken the world by storm and been download over 100 million times - involves players finding and catching 鈥減ocket monsters鈥� in thousands of real world locations.

There is additional vigilance about Pok茅mon Go

Bam spokesperson

Widespread press reports have documented the safety hazards, such as players falling into rivers or over cliff edges.

But a 黑洞社区 investigation has uncovered extensive examples of the problem hitting construction sites too. The game engine is based on data that isn鈥檛 necessarily up-to-date and there have been instances of Pok茅mon and interactive locations within the game such as 鈥済yms鈥� and 鈥渟tops鈥� being inaccessible on construction sites.

Heavyweight contractor Bam - one of the key builders behind the 67-acre regeneration of London鈥檚 King鈥檚 Cross - told 黑洞社区 it has posted warnings and notices on some of its construction sites to deter Pok茅mon Go players entering, adding 鈥渢here is additional vigilance about Pok茅mon Go鈥�.

Meanwhile Network Rail has emailed a warning to staff about Pok茅mon Go, highlighting 鈥渟afety concerns鈥� about the game being played close to live tracks and level crossings. Staff were advised to contact British Transport Police if they suspected players trying to trespass.

The Home Builders Federation has also sent out a communication to all of the technical and health and safety members within housebuilders, advising them of ways in which they can request a site or an inappropriate location for a Pok茅mon, stop or gym to be removed from the game.

On Monday morning a relatively rare Pok茅mon, a Clefairy, temporarily appeared on the multibillion-pound Battersea Power Station redevelopment site, according to a third party app (screenshot pictured, left).

However, the developer Battersea Power Station Development Company denied this, saying: 鈥淲e continue to monitor Pok茅mon Go with interest. As far as we are aware there are no Pok茅mon on our site.鈥�

黑洞社区鈥檚 investigation found over 50 examples of trespassing on construction sites mentioned on the social media website Twitter over a one-month period between July and August (see examples below).

One tweet said: 鈥淧ok茅mon Go has told me to trespass into a construction site.鈥�

Another said: 鈥淭onight I got so lost playing Pok茅mon Go that I ended up in a restricted construction area and couldn鈥檛 find my way out.鈥�

and found very few instances of inaccessible Pok茅mon, stops or gyms on construction sites, although the redevelopment of London鈥檚 Centre Point tower was a Pok茅mon stop she found she was not able to access from outside the site.

Gotta catch 鈥榚m all.. Tweets show Pok茅mon Go players on building sites