Workplace deaths and investigations at Northvolt

analysisNorthvolt's 2023 sustainability and annual report states that two fatal accidents occurred at Northvolt Ett during 2023. The first involved a Northvolt employee performing a routine procedure in one of the downstream facilities; production was halted for two weeks to investigate the cause, and mitigation measures, including updated safety training and routines, were taken following an internal investigation. The second involved a construction worker engaged by the construction company NCC who was building a temporary tent structure outside the production facilities; NCC was to present the analysis and conclusions of that accident. This is the company's own account: the report does not name the deceased or state the causes of the accidents. ¹

analysisThe same report states that Northvolt incurred five cases of non-compliance with environmental regulations in 2023. Four concerned leakage control and reporting not done within the specified interval, and treated wastewater at Northvolt Ett released at too high a temperature and too high a pH respectively; all were resolved except the temperature case, for which Northvolt was awaiting a decision from the County Administrative Board. The fifth concerned non-compliance with the environmental permit at Northvolt Labs through the release to the municipal wastewater treatment plant of treated process water with too high a lithium concentration; it had been corrected but notified to a prosecutor who had not yet delivered a decision. Total fines were SEK 165,000 in 2023, against SEK 212,500 in 2022. These are the company's own disclosures at the time of the report; the inspected records do not show the later decisions of the prosecutor or the County Administrative Board. The 2022 report had already stated that Northvolt Ett was charged for violating a term of its environmental permit concerning the temperature of water released to the river. ^{1 2}

analysisMedia reported in May 2026 that former Northvolt chief executive Peter Carlsson had been notified of suspicion (delgiven misstanke) of a work-environment offence (arbetsmiljöbrott) and of causing another's death through gross negligence (grovt vållande till annans död) in the investigation of a fatal explosion in November 2023 at Northvolt's battery plant in Skellefteå. A notification of suspicion is not a charge. Reports describe the suspected offences differently: a June 2026 report referred to a work-environment offence causing death, another to an environmental offence causing death, and according to a June 2026 report the cause of the explosion has not been established. Media reported on 8 May 2026 that environmental prosecutor Christer Jarlås had confirmed that two former Northvolt middle managers, previously notified of suspicion of a work-environment offence, had been removed from the investigation, while the preliminary investigation continued against Carlsson and another former senior manager; the prosecutor said it would be concluded only after the summer. That report cited the prosecutor's statement to a news agency; the inspected records contain no prosecution document, and the two managers and the other suspect are not named. Carlsson had earlier commented on the case that the chief executive of Northvolt Ett, where the accident occurred, was not Carlsson. On 23 June 2026 media reported that the preliminary investigation had been completed and sent for final review (slutdelgivning) to the defence counsel of the two remaining suspects, Carlsson and another Northvolt manager. Prosecutor Christer B Jarlås was reported as saying that a charging decision could come at the earliest in the autumn, as the defence responses were not expected until after the summer holidays, and as rejecting the argument that Carlsson had been too senior in the organisation, saying Carlsson had been present in the work on the shop floor. That report carries a correction stating that an earlier version misdescribed the prosecutor's position on the question of charges, and neither a charging decision nor a charge against Carlsson appears in the inspected records, the latest of which date from October 2026. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

analysisAccounts of the prosecutor's position on charges conflict. A Swedish news report of 23 June 2026, updated on 24 June, stated that the prosecutor expected to charge Carlsson, quoting the prosecutor as saying that a chairman of the board bears the highest responsibility in a company and that, if there is no one else to hold to account, one turns to those higher up, that Carlsson had often been present on the shop floor, and, when asked whether charges were expected absent dramatic objections, that without such an expectation the case would have to be dropped. Carlsson's defence lawyer told that outlet that the defence would request a large number of supplementary investigative measures, including expert opinions, expressed conviction that the prosecutor would change that view, and questioned the decision to focus on Carlsson, saying Carlsson had not micromanaged the operations. On 24 June 2026 the prosecutor was quoted in other media as rejecting the report of an intention to prosecute, calling it a fabricated news story with nothing new in it. A prosecutor's expectation is not a charge, and no charge against Peter Carlsson appears in the inspected records, the latest of which date from October 2026. ^{5 6}

analysisMedia reported on 11 May 2026 that a book by a Swedish journalist states that the Swedish Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten) has opened an investigation into suspected tax offences and bookkeeping offences connected to Northvolt, and that the accusations are directed at all or part of the board and at the company's auditor. The authority had neither confirmed nor denied such an investigation. This is a claim made in a book and relayed by media: no suspect is named in the reports, a reported investigation is not a charge or a finding, and the inspected records contain no official statement on such an investigation. According to the same reports, the book also argues that Northvolt probably became insolvent (på obestånd) already after midsummer 2024, several months earlier than previously known, and that several of management's press releases about the company's finances were misleading, which in the author's view could bring the offence of svindleri (a Swedish Criminal Code offence involving misleading public information) into consideration. That is the author's assessment: no court or authority has made such a finding in the inspected records, and no investigation of svindleri is reported. Former chief executive Peter Carlsson said in a written comment that nothing shows that the board or management failed to fulfil their duties towards lenders (kreditgivare) or departed from the requirements of the Swedish Companies Act, and that the information that Ekobrottsmyndigheten had opened an investigation was new to Carlsson. ^{1 2}