Managers instructed employees to continue working, despite high levels of the dangerous substance ammonia spreading on the premises at Northvolt, reports Echo. In the past, the company has been fined after employees were exposed to the gas.
It was after a gas leak in April this year that Northvolt measured elevated levels of ammonia in the premises. Although the levels were significantly higher than usual, employees were encouraged to continue working.
– It’s very wrong. It is risking our safety. My first thought was that this can’t be legal, says an anonymous source to Ekotwhich tells us that the company usually stops work in case of similar leaks.
Ammonia gas is dangerous at high levels. The Swedish Work Environment Authority has set a limit of a maximum of 50 ppm (parts per million) for a person working without protection. According to Northvolt themselves was measured at the time 155 ppm in the premises.
The company believes that the employees were instructed to continue working because they managed to reduce the amount of ammonia in the air. According to the company, the staff had protective equipment that can handle 500 ppm and that they should therefore not have been exposed to any health risk.
Acutely toxiccorrosive and flammable gas. Forms in case of fire/heating nitrous gases. Boiling point -33 grader.
Sharp pungent smell.
Risk of serious respiratory symptoms. Strong exposure creates a risk of serious eye symptoms and corrosion damage. For gases that are transported in liquid form there is also a risk of frostbite. Some gases can cause general effects.
Upon exposure: Burning, irritation, cough, chest pain, shortness of breath. At high levels, risk of high airway obstruction and pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs). Pulmonary edema can come on quickly or be delayed up to 48 hours.
Can give long-term damage on organ. Very dangerous to aquatic organisms
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Northvolt: Was not exposed to risk
In the message from the work management to the employees, the limit value of 500 ppm was stated as safe – even though it is ten times higher than the limit value set by the Swedish Work Environment Authority.
– This is, of course, an assessment that our security managers have made. And with hindsight, it can also be concluded that our HSE staff did not make the assessment that we exposed the employees to risk in this situation, says Emma Nehrenheim, who sits on the management team at Northvolt, to Ekot.
The HSE staff at Northvolt are employed by the company to work with environmental and work environment issues. The union safety organization at Northvolt is critical of the company using HSE personnel in work environment work instead of informing and cooperating with the safety representatives.
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Reported to the police after an ammonia leak in February
Northvolt has previously been criticized for its handling of ammonia. In February 2022, a leak occurred in connection with an emptying and several employees were taken to the emergency room.
One of the employees then described to Dagens Arbete how he saw a white gas cloud spreading in the premises. He and his colleagues ran as fast as they could but the cloud caught up. Several found it difficult to breathe and their eyes burned.
Northvolt never informed the County Administrative Board about the emptying, even though it is obliged to do so. Nor was the gas leak reported. They were later reported to the police by the authority and was forced to fine SEK 25,000.
Northvolt has subsequently admitted that it misjudged the accident in 2022. It is also said to have taken measures to prevent similar leaks in the future.
Several serious accidents in recent years
For several years, the unions have sounded the alarm. There are shortcomings in the working environment, poor control over subcontractors and a lack of cooperation between unions and employers.
2021:
October 19th. The union believes that Northvolt is wrong from the start by not requiring collective agreements for subcontractors despite their fine words about creating a good working environment.
Pierre Pettersson, Byggnads and Jenny Nilsson, IF Metall, wish that the collaboration with Northvolt was better. Photo: David Lundmark.
2022:
18 Maj. Several people were exposed to toxic gas in an ammonia accident at Northvolt Ett. No emergency services were called and the battery company did not report the accident when it occurred.
2023:
4 November. During a routine job of changing filters on a cleaning machine, a powerful explosion occurred. A 25-year-old man was badly burned and later died as a result of his injuries.
– It’s a black day, says Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson.
Photo: David Lundmark
15 december: Arvid Öhgren was seriously injured and lost his arm. His co-worker, a man in his 60s, died after a piece of machinery fell on them. NCC has received criticism for a lack of safety when lifting. Police and prosecutors are investigating the accident.
2024:
January. The Swedish Work Environment Authority reports Northvolt to the police for suspected work environment violations, after the fatal accident in November where a 25-year-old died.
June 24th. Three workers at the battery factory in Skellefteå have been found dead in their homes in the past six months. The circumstances are unclear. The police are now investigating whether there is a connection.
– Indications that this third man has ingested something, the police told Norran
June 24th. Several employees are worried after three workers were found dead in their homes. “Some don’t want to go to work”.
June 26th. Toyota decided to temporarily stop work for its service technicians at Northvolt Ett in Skellefteå. The reason is the so far unexplained deaths.
Photo: TT News Agency and David Lundmark. Archive photography/editing.
July 7th. New accidents in production. Two people must have inhaled the gases formed by the electrolytes.
July 7th. Here are the hazardous chemicals that Northvolt is licensed to handle. The majority of the gases are life-threatening and can cause delayed symptoms up to 48 hours.
July 9th. Technological development is accelerating. The risk is that things happen that you didn’t think about, says the lecturer in occupational and environmental medicine.
July 12th. “We expect an answer shortly,” says Detective Inspector Petter Källman.
July 16th. The prosecutor makes a statement about the accident in November. “He didn’t have to die. The risk assessment was not correct.”
“It is us managers in management who have the ultimate responsibility for the working environment,” says Fredrik Hedlund at Northvolt’s factories. Photo: TT News Agency (archive image)
July 16th. “We have taken a long series of measures to ensure that something like this does not happen again,” says Matti Kataja, head of communications at Northvolt.
July 22. Problems with the ventilation cause gas to leak among employees at Northvolt. And the gas is toxic, sources tell Dagens Arbete.
July 22. Personnel at Northvolt have had to handle toxic waste without protective equipment. Managers have tried to stop evacuations in case of fire, and machines have been live.
– The safety of our employees has the highest priority, Northvolt replies when DA seeks them for comment.
Mikael Stenmark is IF Metall’s safety representative at Northvolt. Photo: David Lundmark and private.
July 24th. The company neglects to report serious work environment risks. Managers don’t listen to safety representatives who are shut out of important processes. Chief safety officer Mikael Stenmark is critical of how work environment work is handled at Northvolt.
– I learn from the media things that I should have learned from the company, he says.
Ida Persson
