On March 10, 2021, Alban Millot, who had just turned 25, killed himself by falling from a roof on which he was installing solar panels, without any safety elements. His employer has just been sentenced to 36 months in prison, 18 of which are suspended.
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“The heaviness of the sanction surprises me compared to the usual sanctions, but it is justified in relation to the elements of the file”explains Marjorie Weiermann, the lawyer of the family of Alban Millot. “This is a strong message to employers who neglect the safety of their employees”, she says. And, in this case, the negligence was flagrant.
The judges retained the manslaughter by obviously deliberate violation of obligation and prudence imposed by the law. The Rennes Criminal Court therefore retained aggravating circumstances. The entrepreneur appealed.
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Dangerous working conditions
The young Alban Millot was installing photovoltaic panels on the roof of a hangar in Lieuron, Ille-et-Vilaine, without scaffolding, but helped by a ladder, when he had only been working in the company for three weeks and that he was accompanied by a workman even younger than him, twenty years old. He had no safety features or personal protective equipment. He had a fatal fall.
According to the family lawyer, these breaches were usual. Maître Weierman explains that many warnings had been issued by workers, who were also leaving the company in large numbers. They were asked to work even if it was snowing and they were told that the ladder had to be installed on the roof of the truck. Moreover, travel time was not counted in working time. Alban Millot had already done so, according to the lawyer, a day of 5:44 p.m. The parents of the victim have also decided to launch a collective against deaths at work. The collective “Stop death at work”.
Alban’s mother is the vice-president. The collective multiplies meetings at the Ministry of Labour, Justice and the European Parliament. According to Mathieu Lépine, a history and geography professor who lists workplace deaths, there have already been 128 deaths since the start of 2023. According to figures from 2019, 790 people died at work in 2019.