Work-related accidents and industrial hazards in the spotlight

Download article in original language : FR0202105FFR.DOC

A major fatal explosion at a chemicals factory in Toulouse in September 2001 has sparked off a debate in France on the risks to health generated by companies. This issue no longer seems confined to the changing nature of the risks of work-related accidents encountered by employees, but now include the threats that some companies pose to their neighbouring populations.

Are the risks that economic activity poses for public health changing? Recent trends and events in France indicate both that the nature of work-related accidents is changing, and that there is an increasing focus on the threat that workplace safety problems can pose to the surrounding population.

Changing threat of work-related accidents

According to a statistical survey published by the Ministry of Employment and Solidarity in August 2001 ('The risk of work-related accidents varies according to economic conditions'] [Le risque d'accident du travail varie avec la conjoncture économique], Premières informations et premières synthèses No. 31.1, August 2001), the nature of the 'at risk' groups in terms of work-related accidents - the most serious risk - seems to be undergoing changes.

Generally speaking, according to the study, work-related accidents that cause cessation of work have fallen gradually and consistently since 1974. They have almost halved, although they appear to rise a little during economic upturns. A notable fact is that manufacturing industry and construction have witnessed a sizeable fall in the number of accidents: while in 1970, they accounted for around 80% of accidents occurring in all sectors, now, with 300,000 and 200,000 accidents per year respectively, these two sectors have been overtaken by the service sector (with around 350,000 per year), whose safety situation has been deteriorating.

This trend is partly due to the active population shifting sectors, so that the majority is now employed in the service sector. The service sector suffers from the fact that its lower frequency rate (the number of accidents for a given volume of hours worked) has nevertheless remained adrift of the trend towards risk reduction observed in manufacturing and construction.

Another point to note is that the accident frequency rate, for the economy as a whole, falls more slowly during phases of economic recovery. The risk of accident thus seems to rise when the economy is using the active population more intensively. The survey posits the role of greater use of temporary agency work and fixed-term contracts during these periods as a hypothesis to explain this phenomenon. Those in temporary agency work and fixed-term contracts are more exposed to the risk of accident due to poorer safety training and the greater degree of hardship involved in the tasks they are called upon to perform. Also, periods when employment rises cause the arrival in employment of large numbers of employees who are initially unfamiliar with the positions they occupy, and therefore expose themselves to more risks.

Although it is better managed, generally speaking, than it was 30 years ago, the threat of work-related accidents is moving towards people other than those parliament had originally taken into account when designing a preventive policy. Recent events have highlighted the fact that health risks due to economic activity are not solely the concern of the workforce of the companies, but also of the residents living close to the 'at risk' sites.

Health risks spill over from the workplace

On 21 September 2001, a chemicals factory belonging to AZF (owned by the TotalFinaElf group) exploded in a suburb of Toulouse (in southern France), killing 30 people, injuring 2,500 and depriving several thousands of their home as far away as the city centre. The local population was angered and responded firmly, asking for responsibility to be acknowledged, firstly by the TotalFinaElf group, then by the state and the local authorities. It appears in this instance that the local councils had hitherto opted in favour of job creation in their decisions on the location of 'at risk' companies, thus fostering the creation of huge and extremely dangerous clusters of chemicals factories.

This policy of ruling in favour of job creation without considering the risks has been condemned by the local victim defence groups in Toulouse, which are demanding the immediate closure of AZF and similar plants. This solution, however, has been dismissed by the management of the companies involved and, more generally, by the local business community, who stress the importance of the chemicals cluster to the region's economy and employment.

This line of argument has been backed by the trade unions, which also prioritise employment. More broadly, they have voiced the problems of the employees in the Toulouse chemicals sector who, with attention being focused on those living in the area affected by the explosion, have not been acknowledged as its primary victims. AZF workers have even felt personally victimised by the criticism of their so-called 'rubbish-dump company', and by the theory (later borne out by the enquiry) that safety measures had been neglected.

The unions have therefore urged that the employees' interests should not be sidelined in plant relocation decisions made in response to pressure exerted by the population. A representative of the French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff-General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l'encadrement-Confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC) summarised this stance well: 'The employees are always the primary victims of accidents. We therefore feel that it is intolerable for some of them to have the finger of accusation levelled at them in the enquiry. In any event, relocating will solve nothing because the main victims are in the factory.'

The General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) blamed the staffing cutbacks made over the previous few years, the rise in subcontracting and the lack of funds placed at the disposal of workplace health and safety committee s (comités d'hygiène, de sécurité et des conditions de travail, CHSCTs) (FR0201101F) - an analysis shared by the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT). The unions have thus expressed similar concerns: they are urging the authorities not to give in to the emotion generated by the explosion, and are highlighting that priority should be given to strengthening the safety requirements in the companies involved, an area in which employees and local residents can find a common interest.

Called upon to make a decision, the government has dealt with this issue extremely carefully and has attempted to take account of the various stakeholders' interests. The Prime Minister has opted to keep the Toulouse chemicals cluster going (apart from the closure of the AZF plant) but as part of a programme of conversion to less dangerous types of activity. From the safety point of view, the government does not see relocation of 'at risk' factories as necessarily being the best solution, in that it will entail more transport of chemical products, thus incurring even greater levels of danger.

The route to be followed, and the one argued for in a government bill submitted to parliament in February 2002, consists of: tighter controls being placed on urban growth around dangerous sites; a stronger right for CHSCTs to be consulted and warned of risks; and meeting the demands for information made by the people affected by creating local information committees comprised of residents and elected officials for each 'Seveso-type' site, which will be given financial resources to commission surveys of alternatives. Lastly, the bill responds to the current lack of compensation for residents by providing for conventions relating to industrial sites to be signed by companies, local authorities, the state and landowners, stipulating the division of costs to be borne in the case of an accident taking place. The companies might have to fund jointly any relocation expenses claimed by residents who wish to leave the area.

Commentary

In terms of the threats that economic activities involve for people, French law has focused very much on work-related accidents. Two centuries of manufacturing industry have brought awareness of the risks that employees run in the workplace, leading to the design of legislation aiming to prevent and compensate for these accidents. Twenty years after the establishment of the CHSCTs, which crowned this body of legislation, it now seems necessary to take into account the changes in the economy (such as the shift to services and the growth of various forms of flexible employment) that may lie at the root of the flaws in current preventive measures. Yet the emergence of the topic of industrial risk also shows that businesses can be seen less and less as an 'isolated space' within their immediate environment. What is new is not the risk that an industry such as chemicals poses, but, as the reactions to the explosions in Toulouse have revealed, the sudden intervention of civil society in the world of industrial relations. Perceiving that they will be affected by the consequences of what happens in companies like AZF, residents want to have as much say as employee representatives do in institutional relationships with company management. (Pascal Ughetto, IRES)