Work halted again at SSAB steel plant construction site in Luleå after hydrogen cyanide detected

Work at SSAB’s new steel plant construction site in Luleå has been halted again after personal gas detectors recorded trace levels of hydrogen cyanide, the company announced on Monday.

According to SSAB’s chief technology and transformation officer Carl Orrling, the detected concentrations remain below occupational exposure limits and no workers have fallen ill. The company is now expanding its measurement program before work can resume.

This is the second stoppage at the site this year. In April, about 20 workers reported health symptoms, prompting a 1.5-month shutdown. Investigations later attributed the symptoms primarily to exposure to fine dust particles, compounded by low humidity and seasonal respiratory viruses. The site reopened in phases on 27 May.