Two people who worked at Northvolt’s factory in Sweden, Europe’s leading gigafactory site, have died — in two separate accidents.
On Thursday, a man died after a crane accident at the Northvolt factory site, the company told Sifted. On Friday, an employee of Northvolt who had been injured when an explosive fire broke out at the site in November also died, the company said.
Local media reported that the two men were 60 and 25 years old, respectively. Both accidents happened at Northvolt Ett, the company’s first gigafactory site in Skellefteå, in the northern part of Sweden.
Northvolt is Europe’s leading gigafactory company — producing batteries for both electric vehicles and energy storage. It has become a poster child for the continent’s climate tech ambitions.
Peter Carlsson, CEO and cofounder of Northvolt, said in a comment to Sifted that it is a “dark day” for the company.
“Yesterday, work was carried out with a lifting crane at our construction site which resulted in an accident that injured two people, one of whom has now died from the injuries,” he said. They were both employed by another company, called NCC, to work for Northvolt.
After receiving news about the crane accident, the Northvolt team then heard that the employee who was injured in November had died in hospital, Carlsson said. “He was an ambitious, positive and highly valued colleague whom it hurts incredibly to lose.”
“Measures have been put in place, while support has gone out to family and colleagues. We now gather in grief. The situation is devastating, and we are now working hour by hour to help each other through this,” he added.
The Swedish Work Environment Authority, together with the police and the prosecutor's office, responsible for investigating work-related accidents, have opened an investigation into the incidents.
In a statement to Sifted, the section head at the Swedish Work Environment Agency, Madeleine Wachter said: "We take both accidents very seriously and will of course do our utmost to find out what happened and to prevent similar accidents from happening again."
She added that an investigation into the accident that occurred on November 4 is in the final stages.
Right now, two work environment inspectors are carrying out an inspection at the site of yesterday's accident. "Depending on the result, they may request information from more parties or alternatively carry out follow-up inspections. It is currently not possible to give a time for when the investigation will be completed," Wachter said.
