SSAB resumes construction at its site in Luleå

The Swedish steel company SSAB has resumed work at the construction site of its plant in Luleå following a hiatus that had lasted since the end of June. This was reported by Dagens Arbete.

The hiatus was due to the detection of trace concentrations of hydrogen cyanide in personal gas detectors.

Klaes Danell, chair of the northern branch of the Byggnads trade union, welcomes the introduction of additional safety measures – according to the organisation, new monitoring points will be installed to detect any gas emissions in the workplace. According to Danell, the trade union will continue to monitor developments closely; it is well informed by both SSAB and the construction companies involved in the works.

As stated in SSAB’s announcement, the company is expanding its existing monitoring programme in consultation with external experts. This will also include measurements under conditions similar to those in production, using the necessary personal protective equipment. Additional analyses are being carried out to examine the new information.

As before, it is noted that the pauses have no significant impact on the overall schedule or budget of the project.

It should be recalled that work at the site was first suspended on 3 April this year, after several people developed symptoms of illness. From 27 May, work was gradually resumed following an analysis of the causes. The conclusion was that the symptoms were caused by dust combined with respiratory viruses and weather conditions.

The current SSAB electric steelmaking plant project forms part of the company’s efforts to transition from fossil-fuel-based production to the production of ‘green’ steel.