The investment is seen as decisive for the transition to low-fossil steel production and is estimated to cost SEK 52 billion. But the new steel mill is being built on heavily polluted industrial land.
Machine operators have become ill while working on earthmoving. It is still unclear what caused the symptoms and a police investigation into suspected work environment violations is ongoing.
During the past six months, the Swedish Work Environment Agency has investigated the work environment work at SSAB and the contractors involved. The steel giant's work environment plan does not measure up, documents that DN has seen show.
- There are quite serious shortcomings, says Mats Wennberg, ombudsman and regional safety representative for the trade union Seko in northern Sweden.
For example, there is a lack of information on which respirators should be used "in relation to exposure to chemical or biological substances", the Work Environment Agency wrote to SSAB in October.
- The consequence is that the information doesn't get out and then you don't know what kind of protective equipment to wear, says Mats Wennberg.
The Work Environment Agency's criticism:
• In SSAB's work environment plan, it is not clear which respiratory protection is required for which work phase and in which parts of the construction site.
• SSAB has not been able to report that there are sufficient checks on whether the subcontractors comply with the work environment regulations. There may therefore be an increased risk of workers suffering ill health or accidents.
● Several subcontractors could not present a current documented assessment of chemical risks, lacked written information on how to use protective equipment or had not investigated the ground sufficiently before excavation.
Audited contractors have reported measures. SSAB, which has the coordinating work environment responsibility for the construction, has until mid-November to respond.
- If the work environment plan is not updated, how are you supposed to know what to protect yourself with? says Mats Wennberg.
SSAB's communicator Martin Gidlund declines an interview with the opportunity to ask follow-up questions, but instead sends written answers. He states that the company is now updating the work environment plan and clarifying its reporting of the routines for checking the contractors' work environment work.
"Our view is that the authority is requesting a clearer basis, not that it has determined that controls are lacking," writes Martin Gidlund.
Could a lack of control of the work environment have contributed to the cases of illness?
"The Work Environment Agency's views are about how certain risks should be described, followed up and documented. We work systematically with work environment issues together with our contractors and see the authority's views as part of the continuous improvement work", writes Martin Gidlund.
There have been many tours around the steel mill construction.
As safety representative, Seko's Mats Wennberg closed the entire construction area in April, through a so-called protective stop. The steel company had already stopped work to examine the ground and the air. The union called for a safe plan for those who would participate in the work of taking samples.
- We said stop and cover up, it must first be investigated why people get sick. It was quite tough requirements that I set in order to be allowed to go out into machines and take samples, he says.
Mats Wennberg believes that SSAB seems to have backed away from the work environment requirements that were discussed in April - when the entire area was closed.
- They have lowered the requirements that we set in the protective stop. Now, for example, there has been a backlash regarding this with protective masks, he says.
He points to the criticism that it is unclear what kind of protection is required in different parts of the construction site.
Martin Gidlund, SSAB, replies to DN that "risk assessments are carried out before each individual job" and that it is, among other things, about "which protective measures and which personal protective equipment is required for the work in question and the location".
The steel mill is to be built within an area of 1.7 square kilometers. Many professional groups with different tasks must stay in there at the same time. It is difficult to overview everything, Mats Wennberg believes.
- I mean that is the basic problem. In my world, it doesn't work. Above all, not in a project this large, where square kilometers are involved, and the number of people who will come in and work there will only increase, says Mats Wennberg.
How do you think it should be?
- I think that you should define the areas and have your own Bas-U (coordinating work environment responsibility DN's note) for each area. I think problems will crop up again sooner or later during this project.
Martin Gidlund states that SSAB takes the views seriously.
