Swedish toxicology expert calls for halt at Northvolt after worker deaths, company refuses to stop operations

A leading toxicology expert in Sweden has called for operations at Northvolt in Skellefteå to be halted until the cause of death of three workers, who passed away after their shifts, is identified. Karin Broberg, a professor of environmental medicine at Lund University, called for the shutdown. Relatives of the deceased people, who were interviewed, agreed with her, arguing that work should not continue until the police investigation is complete.

However, Northvolt has no plans to halt operations at present. “We have conducted a large internal investigation where we reviewed what these people worked on and examined the work environment. We could not find a connection between their work environment and the deaths. Given we don’t see this connection, we cannot stop production,” said Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson.

When asked if they had found anything suggesting a link to the workplace, Carlsson responded, “No, we haven’t.” He further guaranteed that no connection to the workplace had been found.

The cause of death for the three deceased workers could not be determined in an initial autopsy. The police are currently re-investigating the cases, along with experts from the National Forensic Medicine Agency who are tasked with conducting new analyses and searching for chemicals.

Carlsson added that they had also consulted with experts and could not find a link with the work environment. He assured that their safety statistics do not indicate that this is a dangerous workplace. When asked if it’s safe to work at Northvolt, Carlsson responded, “Yes, it is safe to work at Northvolt.”