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Tragic Death of Worker in Paris Raises Concerns about Workplace Safety and Subcontracting

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On February 21, 2022, around 11:05 a.m., a social worker from the Social Action Center of the City of Paris (CASVP), whose office is located on the ground floor, heard three shocks coming from the street. Moussa Gassama, who was washing the windows, has just fallen almost 5 meters high. He died from his injuries a few days later, on March 5, 2022, at the age of 58, leaving behind a widow and their five children.

Employee of a company providing cleaning of “easy access glazing” – that is to say on one level and without means of elevation –, “Mr. Gassama would have climbed on a stepladder then on the window sill in order to clean the outside of the windows”, indicates the analysis of the CASVP health prevention office. According to his employer, Maintenance Industrie, this mission could be carried out using a simple telescopic pole, made available. Pole which was not found at the scene of the tragedy, according to the investigation requested by the unions of the ordering company.

In 2022, Health Insurance counted 738 deaths among recognized work accidents, or two deaths per day. How many are linked to subcontracting? Difficult to say, because the annual report of the institution don’t specify it. The statistical survey “Working conditions and psychosocial risks” from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies and the direction of animation of research, studies and statistics (Dares), neither. Published in September 2023, it identifies workplace accidents by surveying active employees. However, she emphasizes that those in subcontracting are much more exposed to accidents.

The race of time

“Companies, by externalizing employment, thereby subcontract the risks associated with work, explain economists Corinne Perraudin and Nadine Thévenot, authors of the study. Forty-nine percent of order takers [sous-traitants] are in at least one risk situation for a significant percentage of their employees, compared to 34% of establishments which are only contractors for their main activity. »

In addition, difficult postures or the handling of heavy loads concern twice as many subcontracting companies as ordering companies, according to Dares. Race for time, demand for performance, lack of information… Whether under the economic pressure of contracts or under that of a political agenda, such as that of the Olympic Games, risks are taken at the expense of employees when the deadlines imposed on Companies are no longer in line with the production ideal.

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2024-02-10 07:30:14
#subcontracting #cascade #work #accidents

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