– I think that when you have a barracks with many cases where soldiers have nosebleeds, and almost no cases in the neighboring barracks and the soldiers have the same physical stress, then it must have something to do with the building, says Viktor Sebastian Seljevold Fladmoe to news. He is the main shop steward in the Army, and says this is not a new problem. – It has been like this for quite some time now. This nosebleed thing is one thing. Then there are several people who have told me that they have moved into the barracks, got respiratory infections, then went out on leave or a course and got better, and then came back and got sick again, says Fladmoe. The barracks in question are called Sannan and are a listed building. Forsvarets Forum first wrote about the matter. Before the summer, there were reports of 180 cases of nosebleeds. This year’s reports are from new soldiers. Take local measures Commander of the 2nd Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Bjørn Andreassen, confirms that they have received reports of around 150 cases of nosebleeds this year. Although the barracks Sannan has designated itself, there are now more cases coming from soldiers living in other barracks. – But there is no doubt that Sannan has stood out. We take the matter very seriously. My highest priority is the care of my soldiers. The least we should be able to offer them is a safe and good place to live, says Andreassen. Defense buildings, the Occupational Health Service and the Defense Commissioner have inspected the barracks together with the battalion commander. Measurements that have been made have shown that it is not harmful to health to live there. Nevertheless, some measures are being taken at Sannan. – We have professionals on the case to map out what this could be. Then we take the local measures we can, such as ventilating the rooms well and being aware of which detergents we use. Then we try to see if we can go down from six to four people per room. Then there will be more air for each individual, says the battalion commander. Chief shop steward Viktor Sebastian Seljevold Fladmoe says the soldiers at the Sanna barracks feel sick from living there. Photo: ØYSTEIN ANTONSEN / news Since parts of the building are listed, there is a limit to how much the Army is allowed to upgrade it. Some internal measures and changes to the ventilation system can be made. Sannan is scheduled to be renovated, but it is still a long way off. Chief union representative Fladmoe wants the soldiers’ voices to be heard and that measures are taken to improve their everyday lives. – We cannot draw a direct conclusion that the barracks are the reason, but the soldiers’ experience of living there is that it is unpleasant. They feel sick from being there, says Fladmoe. Soon back from training The troop that lives at the barracks will soon finish training. They have been out in the field for a week. Lieutenant Colonel Andreassen is anxious to see if their health will deteriorate when they return to camp. – The experience from the reports that came before the summer was that out in the field they had no cases. When they entered and lived in the barracks, they developed symptoms. It will be exciting to see if there is an upswing now, then there will be an interesting empirical basis, says Andreassen. Both he and Fladmoe say they want the best for the soldiers. – Defense Construction will carry out some investigations later in the spring, so we’ll see what comes out of it. Now we sit quietly in the boat and see what discoveries are made, and then consider any measures, says Fladmoe.
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Hundreds of cases of nosebleeds in soldiers in Skjold camp in Øverbygd in Målselv – news Troms and Finnmark
