Worker dies at Stegra site after years of safety warnings
Sunday 25th October 2026 on 10:15 in
Finland
A 65-year-old worker died after falling at the construction site of Stegra’s steel plant in Boden, northern Sweden, where serious safety concerns had been raised for years, Yle reports, citing Swedish broadcaster SVT.
The man died on Wednesday, October 21. Police are investigating the death as a workplace safety offence and suspected causing of another person’s death. Police said the victim was a citizen of a European country.
SVT reviewed official documents showing that several accidents had occurred at the site over the past two years. Inspectors also raised concerns, including missing guardrails and inadequate fall protection.
Former site safety officer Ivan Osipov told SVT he had repeatedly warned management about serious safety problems. He said he resigned before the summer after receiving no response to concerns he had raised for two years. A week before leaving, he emailed Stegra’s head of safety, listing 10 issues, including poorly investigated near misses, risks linked to working at height and gaps in safety expertise.
Osipov told SVT that workers had been injured in earlier incidents that were not reported to Sweden’s Work Environment Authority. SVT also reviewed photographs showing workers at height without fall protection.
Stegra declined to comment on the cause of the death while the investigation continues. The company said it has safety procedures based on Swedish law and additional internal requirements. It said work at height must be assessed and planned in advance, and that workers who do not follow safety rules can be removed from the site.
According to SVT, authorities had identified safety shortcomings at the construction site in inspections during 2024 and 2025, including missing collective fall protection on roofs, incorrectly adjusted safety harnesses and improperly built scaffolding at risk of collapse.
In February 2026, Sweden’s Work Environment Authority issued Stegra Boden AB an immediate order requiring fixed fall protection and guardrails wherever there was a fall risk of two metres or more. Failure to comply could result in a fine of one million Swedish kronor. A subcontractor received a similar conditional fine in March.