He advances with the help of a crutch to the bar then, after two sentences, collapses in tears. As of October 31, 2019, he is a broken man, in every sense of the word. This Thursday, May 2, he is the victim in a hearing at the La Rochelle criminal court. On the dock, the Amaltis company…
He advances with the help of a crutch to the bar then, after two sentences, collapses in tears. As of October 31, 2019, he is a broken man, in every sense of the word. This Thursday, May 2, he is the victim in a hearing at the La Rochelle criminal court. On the dock, the Amaltis company and a fifty-year-old, its general director. Both are accused of involuntary injuries and provision to a worker of equipment that does not allow their safety to be preserved.
This day in October 2019, at the Amaltis premises in La Pallice, at the Grand Port – the company sells fertilizers – the victim is carrying out maintenance work on a conveyor belt. He is perched nearly 10 meters above the ground, on a telescopic lifting platform. While the employee activates the descent maneuver, the basket tips and the victim falls into the void. Taken care of by the firefighters, he was evacuated by helicopter to Poitiers University Hospital, where he would stay for a year and a half. There are multiple fractures (sternum, ribs, pelvis, etc.) and the man is neurologically affected, even today. He will ultimately accumulate 471 days of ITT.
Not visible
What happened ? A metal axle of the lifting basket broke, eaten away by corrosion. The expertise leaves no room for doubt. But who is responsible? To respond, the debates focused on the maintenance conditions of the machine, first rented by the company which then acquired it. Without subscribing to a maintenance contract. However, the company has a user manual and has the machine checked twice a year by a specialized center. Several repairs have been carried out over the years, but the incriminated axis is not affected: it is not visible and the machine must be dismantled to gain access to it.
For deputy prosecutor Hervé Charles, the “indirect fault” lies with the defendants. “This nacelle was completely defective,” he insists before noting a lack of vigilance regarding the maintenance of the tool, used in the necessarily very aggressive environment of the Grand Port regarding corrosion. He compares the checks to a car technical inspection and suggests that the company should have gone further in its maintenance. It requires a conviction and a fine of 10,000 euros for the Amaltis company and 5,000 euros for its director.
70% incapacity
Conversely, Me Johnny Grousseau rejects the lack of maintenance and pleads for release. According to the defense lawyer, it is the American manufacturer of the nacelle, JLG, which is to blame. He cites an expert opinion from Cetim (Technical Center for Mechanical Industries) concluding that the alloy used by the manufacturer was poor quality. Questions far removed from the reality of the victim, “in great physical shape” at the time of the tragedy according to her lawyer Me Adeline Girardin, and today “deeply affected physically and psychologically”. 70% incapacitated, the man was offered a new position within Amaltis by Me Grousseau. The decision was reserved until July 2.
