On June 26, 2023, the heat hits Orgon, a small town in Bouches-du-Rhône. In the department the temperature rose that day to 36° C, however, nothing unusual at this time of year. Météo-France has not issued any heat wave alert. On the Avignon road, west of the town, workers are busy building a residence of forty-six homes.
Among them, Joao Manuel C., 47 years old. This formworker started his day at 7:30 am and then took a break between 12:00 and 1:00 pm. Did he take the opportunity to cool off in the heated base where cold drinks are offered? At 1:00 p.m., there he was again throwing scrap metal on the ground. At 2:30 p.m., Joao Manuel C. feels bad. Alerted, the person in charge of the place found him unconscious on the ground and called the firefighters, who arrived at the scene fifteen minutes later. At 4:50 p.m. the worker was pronounced dead.
The labor inspectorate arrived at the scene shortly after to take note of the circumstances of the accident. Their conclusions will reach the Medical Labor Inspection Service (IMT) which, a few months later, will register 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 Directorate of Labor (DGT) prepares a national report each year, which is then published by the French Public Health agency. the world He had access to all the report sheets detailing the circumstances of each accident from the first report prepared in 2018 until the end of summer 2023, the latest figures available to date.
Construction, the most rugged sector
In six years, between 1Ahem Between June 2018 and September 15, 2023, at least forty-eight workers were victims of a fatal heat-related accident, a figure probably underestimated, according to France’s own Public Health. These cases represent only a marginal fraction of the approximately 700 fatal workplace accidents recorded each year, but their proportion increases during the summer period: ten of the one hundred and twelve fatal accidents recorded between June and September 2019 were, for example, related to heat . , or 9%. Furthermore, this occupational risk is likely to become increasingly important with global warming, causing an increase in extreme weather events, which will likely increase the risk of occupational heat-related illnesses, whether fatal or not.
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