One of the country’s leading experts in toxicology has told SVT that work at Northvolt in Skellefteå should be stopped while waiting for the cause of three people’s deaths after their work shifts to be clarified.
– If you couldn’t find the cause of death, you should close, said Karin Broberg, professor of environmental medicine at Lund University.
Employees died after working shifts at Northvolt in Skellefteå
The police: Answers about Northvolt only after the summer
The Toxicologist: Northvolt should close – I’d be worried
Relatives of the deceased that SVT spoke to agree. They do not think that the work should continue before the police investigation is complete.
Northvolt’s CEO: Major internal investigation
But the company has no such plans at the moment.
– We have carried out a really large internal investigation where we have reviewed what these people worked with and reviewed the working environment. We cannot find a connection between their work environment and the deaths. And in the way that we do not see this connection, we cannot stop production, says Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson.
Have you found anything that indicates that it has a connection to the workplace?
– No, we have not done that, says Peter Carlsson.
Can you guarantee that?
– I can guarantee that. We have not found any connection to the workplace.
“Safe to work at Northvolt”
What the three deceased have in common is that no cause of death could be determined during an initial autopsy.
The police are now investigating the cases again, together with expertise from the Swedish Medical Examiner’s Office, which has been tasked with making new analyzes and looking for chemicals.
SVT has also seen emails sent from researchers to the police, in which they alert about dangerous substances to which the deceased could have been exposed.
– We have also spoken to experts and we cannot find a connection with the work environment. Nor do we see in our safety statistics that this would be a dangerous workplace, says Peter Carlsson.
So is it safe to work at Northvolt?
– Yes, it is safe to work at Northvolt.
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