It was 1:30 p.m. when firefighters found the lifeless body of a truck driver in Aisne locked in his passenger compartment. This 56-year-old man embodies the 139e death at work displayed by the work counter Humanity since 1is January 2024.
This count is based on the census that Matthieu Lépine tirelessly keeps on of work.
This year, the “invisible massacre” risks being worse than predicted. “This seems obvious to me, given that unfortunately there is not an article every time there is a death,” ahead of this Montreuillois whose careful monitoring is based on press cuttings.
Why are there such differences between the Social Security statement and that of the General Directorate of Labor?
The monthly internal summaries of the General Directorate of Labor (DGT) to which Humanity had access to report at least 157 fatal accidents between January and April (contacted, the DGT did not respond to our questions). Unsurprisingly, the manufacturing industry and construction remain the most accident-prone.
These DGT reports, which are based on reports to labor inspectors, are also surely below reality. In 2023 alone, the note mentions 400 fatal accidents. Health insurance, which records official accident reports, will not make data for 2023 public until next January.
The latest available figures stand at 738 deaths in 2022. But, to get an idea of the number of lives stolen by work in one year, we must add commuting accidents (286) as well as occupational illnesses (203), also listed by Social Security. And again, this is without counting the farmers registered with the MSA, nor the self-employed workers or civil servants, whose accident rate remains opaque.
By cross-referencing different data, the media Political resulted in a figure of 903 in 2022. However, in that year, the labor inspectorate only counted a third (331). And it seems to take into account those having taken place in education or in “public administration” without us really knowing what these categories correspond to.
Why such a difference between the accounting of Social Security and that of the DGT? Questioned on this point, Simon Picou cannot explain it. “It happens that a death on a construction site is covered up but, if the firefighters and the police intervene, we still end up finding out,” wonders the CGT representative of labor inspectors. Especially since a 2023 decree requires the employer to notify the inspection within twelve hours of the employee’s last breath.
Despite this differential, the 157 deaths collected in 2024 by the Ministry of Labor show a notable trend compared to previous years. Over the first four months, the summary counts 113 deaths in 2023, 101 in 2022 and 112 in 2021. That is to say around 30 to 50 fewer deaths than this current year. In his census, Matthieu Lépine does not find “major development” between these periods: “That doesn’t mean much since I remain totally dependent on the upstream work of the media. »
“We couldn’t help but make the link with the Olympic Games”
The fact remains that the monthly notes provided by their management confirmed the concerns of certain labor inspectors. “From the first months, we were on a black streak. A colleague who never had to deal with it found himself confronted with two fatal accidents at the start of the year”illustrates a civil servant from the Ile-de-France region, who himself had to go to the bedside of a worker buried in January.
“It’s a heavy event, usually two colleagues travel there. The bosses come down to see us to warn us, the whole department knows about it. It’s true that we thought there was something abnormal.”, he continues. According to our information, in Île-de-France, 14 deaths occurred from January to March, including one on the Greater Paris works. Or 12% of the country’s 157 deaths. And almost half of these Ile-de-France deaths were recorded in Seine-Saint-Denis, where numerous cranes punctuate the landscape.
Enough to liven up discussions in this departmental union of Drietts (regional directorate of the economy, employment, work and solidarity). “We couldn’t help but make the link with the Olympic Games”, confides an agent. Difficult to verify this hypothesis based on the reports of several project managers who would have accelerated the pace in view of the sporting event, several sites of which are located in the Paris suburbs.
Construction site restrictions are in fact planned there from June 15 to September 15, or even until September 30 after the Paralympics. “Even if certain construction sites were not closedwarn several inspectors, the movement of trucks to transport materials or the movement of employees will be limited. » According to specialized media, companies are supposed to have anticipated, but the vagueness remains around the implementation of the instructions.
Officially, the preparation for Paris 2024 did not take anyone’s life…
95% of the works marked OJ are now completed. Temporary public reception stands are being installed. Barely started, certain assemblies were suspended last March for “serious and imminent danger of falling from a height”. Officially, the preparation for Paris 2024 did not take anyone’s life. Officially, that of Amara Dioumassy was mowed down on the evening of June 16, 2023, in the Austerlitz station district, on a work commissioned by the City of Paris.
In fact, this father worked on the site of the wastewater collector involved in the sanitation of the Seine, where the whitewater swimming and triathlon events are supposed to take place. His supporters are campaigning for a commemorative plaque to be placed in his honor. As for the Grand Paris Express construction site, at least seven people lost their lives trying to reach it.
“Obviously, the obligation to respect the deadlines for the Olympic Games snowballs into all other activities,” summarizes Marie Martin. Since 2014, this lawyer at the CGT construction federation has been following fatal accident cases for which the organization is a civil party and provides legal aid and psychological support to bereaved families.
Already six are in progress for 2024. Double compared to last year. “It’s more than before but we are receiving more reports than before, from families, activists or controllers. Our approach is better known,” remarks Marie Martin.
Professional deaths jumped under Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term
The Paris Olympics alone would not explain a more general trend. While workplace mortality has been halved in thirty years, it has stagnated since the 2000s before increasing during the 2010s, particularly among women.
Furthermore, occupational diseases have more than doubled in twenty years. A recent note from the La Boétie Institute, linked to France Insoumise, attributes this deterioration to neoliberal policies at work for decades, carried out at full speed in recent years.
In fact, professional deaths jumped under Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term, going from 530 deaths in 2017 to 738 (or even 903) in 2022. “Numbers never reached in the 21ste century “recalls Matthieu Lépine.
The Prime Minister seemed to realize this when he took office. “We have too many accidents at work in France, we have too many French people dying at work”reiterated Gabriel Attal on the TF1 JT set last March.
At the end of 2023, the Ministry of Labor launched a national campaign to combat workplace accidents, relaunched in March with a plan for the prevention of serious and fatal workplace accidents. The 157 deaths since January demonstrate that these campaigns have not yet achieved their goal.
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