Work at the steel mill construction site in Luleå has been halted for several weeks due to reported employee illnesses. There is currently no timetable for when operations can resume.
"We put the safety of our employees first, that is the most important thing. The situation as it stands now is that we continue to measure and get facts on the table," says CEO Johnny Sjöström.
According to Sjöström, the company has so far conducted more than 150,000 gas measurements, none of which have shown levels exceeding applicable limit values.
It puzzles us, but we will, of course, continue to measure.
Is there any theory you are currently working on?
No, I don't want to speculate. We need to get metrics that show what it's all about.
Have fallen ill
So far, around 20 employees have fallen ill after suffering symptoms such as dizziness, irritated airways, headaches and nosebleeds.
According to SVT Norrbotten, employees have also hesitated to go to the workplace out of concern that they themselves will be affected.
We have a very close dialogue with the unions, and I was up and met with them last week. I think the unions are handling this very well and we are transparent with each other and working together.
The first cases were reported as early as February, but operations were only halted at the end of March. Did you wait too long?
No, I don't think we did. First of all, it's the contractors and their employees who are responsible for this.
No financial impact
According to Johnny Sjöström, SSAB only received information at the end of February.
Once we found out, we took immediate action. We changed the construction site, stopped digging there, and started digging somewhere else. We also stopped handling cabin rock and switched to crushed rock, so we took it seriously right away.
Financially, the stoppage should not affect the company's budget or schedule at this time. The project has also been questioned in the past due to costs and a delayed start of production.
Has there been a troll involved in this work?
No, that's not our opinion at all. There's no troll involved, but I can say that this part is downright puzzling.
