The union continues to warn • Elisabet lost a close relative: “Does it have to cost five more lives?”
It has been a year since five construction workers lost their lives in an elevator accident in Sundbyberg.
Construction is still ongoing, and in the past year the trade union Byggnads has put in four protective stops because safety could not be guaranteed.
– It has cost five lives, should it have to cost five more, says Elisabet Rundqvist, a close relative of one of the victims.
Elisabet Rundqvist looks up at the high-rise that rose in Sundbyberg in western Stockholm. A year ago, Bashir died in an elevator accident along with four other construction workers. When Bashir came to Sweden as a teenager, Elisabet took care of him, and became like an extra mother.
– Obviously, nothing has happened. They stood here a year ago and said that we have zero tolerance. That this must not happen and that we must have clearer regulations and more controls. It doesn’t seem to work, she says.
A year ago, a construction elevator fell 20 meters and killed five workers. The accident commission has determined that the accident in Sundbyberg was caused by the elevator missing screw connections that would hold the sections of the elevator mast together. The error was not detected during the security checks.
Several new protective stops
Despite the fatal accident, the building has continued to have major safety deficiencies. During the year, the Construction trade union put four protective stops because, among other things, the workplace lacked approved guardrails, had open holes in joists and open electrical cabinets.
– It is extremely unusual that we put a protective stop, and at the workplace after the elevator accident we put four protective stops. It is startling, says Kim Söderström, union chairman at Byggnads.
At the beginning of the year, the construction site had 132 subcontractors, which is more than during the accident.
– There is no one who has the main responsibility. There are over 100 entrepreneurs and companies that have employees on site. No one has a helicopter perspective or overall responsibility. It will be dangerous, says Kim Söderström.
Patrik Toresäter, CEO of the responsible construction company Anderssons company, does not appear for an interview. He writes in an email that “the discovered deficiencies have been immediately remedied and the protection agent suspension has thus been lifted”.