“Safety would have saved me from the accident”, confides Olivier Rabaca, victim of a 7 meter fall while working on a frame in 2006. Today, the craftsman, who was able to resume his activity, still suffers pain caused by multiple fractures and trauma caused by his fall. He makes safety a priority every day based on this formative event.
Experience is the message conveyed by the campaign to prevent the risks of work accidents among construction craftsmen, launched by the construction materials sales platform Point P, on the occasion of the Day World Health and Safety at Work, Sunday April 28. Registering in the “great initiative” mentioned by the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, on March 27, on “8 p.m.” on TF1, the system aims to reduce the loss ratio in the construction sector, where professionals are particularly exposed to work accidents.
In one year, nearly 79,000 work accidents took place in the construction sector, explains the latest Health Insurance report for the year 2022. The Institute for Research and Innovation on Health and Safety safety at work (IRIS-ST) recorded, for craftsmen alone, 32,629 work accidents (AT) with lost time in 2021, an increase of 2% compared to 2019, and 44 fatal accidents. An assessment and a trend which questions the effectiveness of existing prevention measures, including the famous personal protective equipment known as “PPE”.
The rules governing safety on construction sites have been in force since the 19th century.e century. They are well known by professionals. And yet… they are not systematically respected by artisans, far from it. For an employee of L3 Renov, a small interior renovation company based in Yonne, “some standards are justified but not practical”.
According to him, PPE, such as safety gloves, protective glasses and safety shoes, are sometimes inconvenient and can even represent a danger for the worker: “I can’t see anything with the safety glasses, so it’s difficult to keep them on”says the craftsman, on condition of anonymity.
Another craftsman, Mr. Cazeaud, a roofer for more than twenty years, does without safety shoes, because they do not provide the essential stability on a roof: “With these shoes, you don’t feel anything, it takes away agility”, he explains. For his part, Olivier Rabaca also raises a question of usage: “On a construction site, the guys know it’s dangerous. Sometimes there may not be a specific reason not to wear PPE, but it is still the case. Question of mentality. »
You have 51.73% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.