behind fatal work accidents, the long legal battle of bereaved families

The air is hot, on this April day, under the olive tree of the town hall square where Nathalie Bardel takes patiently pose it. If she bends to an exercise that she likes little, it is for her son, Hugo, who died at the age of 22 following an accident at work. “I accept everything for him”blows this assistant to the town hall of La Motte (Var).

It is under this tree, Hugo’s favorite essence, that his friends organized a last ceremony in his memory. Perhaps there, too, that they will meet again, Friday, April 28, International Day of Remembrance of Workers Killed or Injured at Work.

The death of young man from Var is not an isolated case. In 2019, 790 people died as a result of an accident at work, according to figures from the ministry published in 2022. France is thus one of the countries of the European Union which have more fatal accidents, according to Eurostat (in English). Asked about this, the Ministry of Labor claims to take the measure of the problem and refers to announcements made “at the end of the week”. Medef, for its part, says it is working “Right now” to a convention on the subject.

A “tsunami” and the beginning of a fight

On November 8, 2018, Hugo Bardel, an apprentice lumberjack, died crushed by a tree on a forestry site located in Valbelle (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), a two-hour drive from his parents’ home. Only a worker, paid by the task, was present with him. It was he who felled the tree that fell on the apprentice, according to the audience report consulted by franceinfo. His internship supervisor, the boss of the company that employed him, was absent on the day of the tragedy.

Since then, the Bardel family has evoked a “tsunami”. Nathalie recounts her husband’s dark thoughts and the many administrative procedures to face. She wrote them all down in a notebook. Her “second brain” since the stroke she suffered in October 2020 and which made her memory flinch.

Then begins a long and heavy legal battle. Two investigations are open. One by the gendarmerie; the other by the labor inspectorate. According to the Social Security Code, “Is considered as an accident at work, whatever the cause, the accident occurring by the fact or in the course of work to any person employed or working in any capacity whatsoever, for one or more employers or heads of business”. “IWhat is special about these fatal accidents is the multiplicity of procedures”explains Juliette Pappo, a lawyer specializing in criminal, labor and social security law. “The families are totally lost, because they are in shock with the pain. Except that it is at this time that it is necessary to ensure the smooth running of the investigations of the police or the gendarmerie and the work inspection.”

For the civil parties, the stakes are high. It is necessary to find out whether the employer has breached his obligation to ensure the safety of his employee. If so, he faces fines and jail time. On the other hand, if the investigation finds a fault committed by the employee, it is closed without further action. The person is then not recognized as a victim and his relatives cannot claim compensation.

The fear of a dismissal

Since November 2018, Nathalie Bardel has lived “in apnea, in constant anguish that the gendarmerie investigation will end in a dismissal and that there will be no trial”. A justified fear. According to “Complément d’Enquête” and the magazine Health and Work, 34% of the procedures initiated by the labor inspectorate in Seine-Saint-Denis between 2014 and 2020 were dismissed, even if breaches on the part of the employer had been identified. A number “down”, according to the admission of the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office, quoted by Health and Labor (subscribers)which nevertheless calls for caution: “The labor inspectorate (…) is not always aware of the follow-up given to these reports”.

To hold, Nathalie Bardel tirelessly called the gendarme in charge of the investigation. She also contacted all the former employers of Hugo, so that they testify to the seriousness of the young man. “As the interrogations went on, I had the impression that he was no longer the victim and that we were the accused”, she remembers, disgusted. Contacted via his lawyer, the employer did not wish to answer our questions.

Fifteen months later, during the trial, Nathalie Bardel mobilized all her courage to defend her son. “When I heard the room debating, wondering why Hugo was where the tree fell, I was in shock. It was as if he had become guilty.” At the helm, the labor inspector nevertheless noted several faults on the part of the employer, according to the inspector quoted in the report, such as the absence of safety training and a secure perimeter around the felled tree.

Finally, the justice sentenced, in March 2020, the manager of the company to a fine of 10,000 euros for involuntary homicide by recklessness, as well as a two-year ban on taking on a new apprentice and to pay 84,500 euros in compensation to the family of the deceased. Penalties “insufficient” according to those close to Hugo. However, Nathalie Bardel, her husband and her son did not appeal, tired of a fight they thought was lost in advance. “I was afraid that the delays would be very longshe justifies. In addition, I saw that the sentences were very often revised downwards at second instance.”

With each new procedure, the family plunges back

More than 800 kilometers away, in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine), this is precisely what Jérémy Wasson’s family fears, died at the age of 21 after a nine-meter fall, in May 2020, while he was on an internship on a construction site in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) intended for the construction of a RER-E checkpoint.

Tried on the same charges as the manager and the company that employed Hugo, SAS Urbaine de Travaux and the site’s chief engineer were sentenced more heavily. They got respectively a fine of 240,000 euros and a two-year suspended prison sentence, for manslaughter by manifestly deliberate violation of a security obligation, for having employed Jérémy without having trained him in security and for having failed in the measures of protection against falling people. “It is the biggest conviction I’ve ever gotten”underlines Juliette Pappo, the lawyer who advised the Wasson family.

But the company and the engineer appealed. For the Wasson family, it is therefore necessary to start from scratch. Then after the call, “will come the Court of Cassation”, predicts Frédéric Wasson. The former consultant, now retired, believes that he and his family have ten years of proceedings. “We are already almost three years waitinghe calculates. During this time, I spent my time calling and writing, at least once a month. I didn’t drop anything, I didn’t want our file to end up at the bottom of a pile.”

“Every time you take a step forward, there is a backlash. And each time, you have to recover, reopen the file, with the most painful memories coming back.”

Frédéric Wasson, father of Jérémy, died on a construction site in 2020

at franceinfo

On April 4, 2023, a civil hearing took place in Bobigny. SAS Urbaine de travaux has asked the judges to wait for the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal to rule, a means “to save time”, Tance Frédéric Wasson. But the father of the family refused: “I imposed that we go there to show that we were there, to show our involvement in the eyes of the judges.” A decision is expected on May 16.

A collective battle

“Three years later, I’m just beginning to understand certain workings”admits Valérie Wasson, Jérémy’s mother. “For road accidents, there is an official guide”, made available to the families of victims by the government to help them in their efforts. However, there is nothing of the sort for the deaths of accidents at work. “Sometimes we wonder if we should continuesays her husband. Because we know all the damage it can cause.”

It is precisely to avoid lengthy and complex procedures that several bereaved families have been building a collective since November 2022. “My son died on February 28, 2022, he was only 23 years old. He was a roofer and had a fatal fall”remembers Caroline Dilly, co-founder of the association Stop à la mort au travail, received by the ministry Labor in early March. The ambition of this group of families: to support each other in this obstacle course. “It’s the iron pot against the earthen potsays Fabienne Bérard, another co-founder. When your loved one dies, the legal battle begins against a company that can afford specialized lawyers, that has information and codes that we don’t have. We tell ourselves that we are invisible and beaten in advance.”

“The objective is also to help families, who are not always well guided, so that they do not reproduce the same errors”, underlines Caroline Dilly, who regrets not having been better advised after the death of her son. A year later, the labor inspection investigation is closed, but that of the gendarmerie is still ongoing. “I’m doing pretty wellrelativizes the secretary. But some families still have nothing three or four years later.” Not to mention attorney fees.

The association also wants to ensure that these accidents are considered as a social problem and not just as news items. “It’s a social fact”denounced sociologist Véronique Daubas-Letourneux, occupational health specialist, during a round table held on April 5 at the National Assembly. After the Ministries of Labor and Justice, then the National Assembly, it is before the European Parliament that the members of the association will present themselves on Tuesday 2 May. A new meeting to make known the obstacle course of the families of the deceased.