Who die from heat at work?

On June 26, 2023, the heat crushes Orgon, a small town in Bouches-du-Rhône. In the department, the temperature rose to 36° C that day. However, nothing unusual at this time of year. Météo-France has not issued a heatwave alert. On the road to Avignon, west of the village, workers are busy on the construction site of a residence with forty-six homes.

Among them, Joao Manuel C., 47 years old. This formworker started his day at 7:30 a.m., then took a break between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. Did he take the opportunity to cool off in the air-conditioned base where cold drinks are available? At 1 p.m., there he was again putting scrap metal on a floor. At 2:30 p.m., Joao Manuel C. feels unwell. Alerted, the site manager discovered him unconscious on the ground and called the firefighters, who arrived on the scene fifteen minutes later. At 4:50 p.m., the worker was pronounced dead.

The labor inspectorate arrived on site shortly after to note the circumstances of the accident. Its findings will reach the work medical inspection service (IMT) which, a few months later, will record this death as “related to heat”. Joao Manuel C. is therefore one of the eleven people who officially died from exposure to excessive heat in their workplace in 2023.

Based on IMT reports, the General Labor Directorate (DGT) carries out a national report each year, then published by the Public Health France agency. The World had access to all the report sheets detailing the circumstances of each accident from the first report established in 2018 until the end of summer 2023 – the latest figures available to date.

Construction, the most accident-prone sector

In six years, between 1^is June 2018 and September 15, 2023, at least forty-eight workers were victims of a fatal heat-related accident – ​​a figure that is probably underestimated, according to Public Health France itself. These cases represent only a marginal fraction of the approximately 700 fatal workplace accidents recorded each year, but their share increases during the summer period: ten of the one hundred and twelve fatal accidents recorded between June and September 2019 were, for example, linked with heat, or 9%. In addition, this occupational risk is likely to become increasingly important with global warming, causing an increase in extreme climatic episodes, likely to increase the risk of illness linked to the workplace in the workplace. heat, whether fatal or not.

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