Is France really the worst student in Europe in terms of work accidents? On the occasion of the International Day of Remembrance of Workers Killed or Injured at Work, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) published a manifesto on April 28 to put an end to fatal accidents at work by 2030 in the European Union.
According to the figures given in this document, which includes the Eurostat datathe number of fatal accidents at work has generally decreased over the last ten years in Europe, but it has increased in France: from 537 in 2010 to 803 in 2019. The country also records the highest incidence rate of Europe, with an average of 3.53 fatal accidents per 100,000 workers.
If we relate this rate to the weight of the activities ” at risk “ in each country, France comes second behind Luxembourg. With this sad record, France should register nearly 8,000 additional work-related deaths by 2030, compared to 563 for Poland or 3,143 for Germany.
On social networks, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has reacted, accusing France of being “champion of the carnage: 1,200 work-related deaths per year”. The leader of La France insoumise took over the figures the annual health insurance reportwhich includes accidents at work stricto sensu, but also accidents on the home-work journey and deaths related to occupational diseases.
“We are mixing figures that are not comparable”
In the opinion of Me Camille Pradel, lawyer specializing in occupational health, “We are mixing figures that are not comparable”. France’s poor results could be partly explained by a procedure for recognizing workplace accidents that is stricter than in other countries. In particular, the work-related nature of an internal injury (heart attack, ruptured aneurysm, etc.) is not automatically recognized in other countries; whereas in France, “Any injury in the workplace is presumed to be of occupational origin”.
The fact remains that the number of work accidents recorded has been increasing in France for ten years, with the exception of 2020. According to Health Insurance, the increase in recent years is partly explained by the decrease unemployment: in relation to the number of employees, the accident rate remains stable.
In its latest report, Medicare also highlights a “significant improvement in the quality of the recognition process” fatal work accidents. One of the consequences of this improvement would be “a statistical increase in the number of recognitions of AT [accidents du travail] mortals resulting from illnesses” (180 more cases in 2019 compared to 2018).
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