On February 17, 2022, the construction of an elevator at the Louis-Aragon school in Niort turned into a tragedy: while he was at the foot of the scaffolding, at the top of which two colleagues were drilling into the wall with a jackhammer, a 21-year-old worker, Moussa Dosso, was seriously injured by a falling concrete block. Hospitalized in critical condition, he died two days later.
Thursday June 27, 2024, the director of the Scer company was at the bar of the Niort court, with one of his employees. Not the worker who threw the concrete block without seeing his colleague below, but the team leader who was with him on the scaffolding and had distributed the tasks.
On the ground, Moussa Dosso was responsible for collecting the rubble as his colleagues removed it from the platform. No discharge chute, “it was not suitable for heavy solid concrete blocks”, nor barriers to demarcate the dangerous area. Just the instruction to ” be careful “which appears derisory.
“What happened that day, I think about it every day”
In the room, some of Moussa Dosso’s relatives, including his father, who obtained a visa to come from Abidjan. His mother didn’t get it. Their son had gone to France “give yourself a future” explained their lawyer, Me Hubert Chef. “He had been sending money since his arrival” and made his parents proud. In Niort, he integrated through football, got an apprenticeship at Scer, then a permanent contract. “When he arrived, he was an unaccompanied minor; we were happy to welcome him, he was a very good player, he got along well with the team”underlines his boss. “A good colleague, very kind, who worked well, completes the team leader. I think about what happened that day every day. »
For the deputy prosecutor, however, the two men share responsibility for the tragedy. The first demonstrated ” neglect ” while resting “on his team leader who did not ensure the safety of the staff”. Requisitions: €50,000 fine including €20,000 suspended for the company, 12 months suspended prison sentence for the team leader.
“Everyone here regrets what happened”recalls the lawyer of the team leader, Me Sébastien Rey, “but this moral responsibility is different from criminal responsibility”. His client, he believes, cannot be prosecuted in the same way as the employer, not being officially the site manager and responsible for the safety of working conditions.
The leader of Scer admits his responsibilities. His lawyer, Me Christophe Belliot, however, emphasizes that the company had made available to “this small team of three employees, which had been working well for two or three years”all material available. “They decided between themselves on an organization which, obviously, was not the right one. »
The court followed the arguments of Me Rey relaxing the team leader. The company was fined €30,000, of which €20,000 was suspended. Two brothers of the victim receive €5,000 in moral damages, the requests of other relatives being directed to the social center of the judicial court.
