It bears witness to a building “dilapidated”security conditions “questionable” and working conditions “dangerous”. Florian, 35, an electro-mechanic for a Manuco subcontractor on the Eurenco site, was very seriously injured in the series of explosions at the Bergerac powder factory on Wednesday August 3, in a nitrocellulose manufacturing building. This resident of the Toulouse suburbs filed a complaint and testified to the investigators. Almost a month after the explosions, he still suffers from serious after-effects. His lawyer, Master Kamel Benamghar, recounts the trauma experienced by his client and his desire to see the legislation strengthened on the security of Seveso sites. “high threshold”.
At the time of the explosion on Wednesday August 3, Florian, your client, was in building 75. What was he doing in this building?
Me Kamel Benamghar: “It is a building in which there is a production of nitrocellulose, which is particularly explosive and dangerous. On this building in particular, there are then maintenance operations and it is in this context that Florian intervenes, for a sub- He is there to replace and check the pipe fittings in which the nitrocellulose circulates. Florian is a specialist who loves his job, and who does not joke with safety. Many had caps, he had his helmet. And he had his own tools, bronze tools which prevent any sparks in this explosive atmosphere. When the first explosion occurs, he is from behind, tending to engines, while other workers in a another company are working on the connection of the new tank installed in the building.
What memories does he have of the moment of the explosion?
“He turns his head and all of a sudden he starts having tinnitus. He sees everyone running for the exit, and all of a sudden there’s a second explosion. The breath is so big that it’s thrown six meters. He finds himself trapped under a tank, an iron projectile is planted in his helmet. He cannot get up, and a third explosion occurs. He is bleeding, he no longer hears anything, He shouts. At that moment he is the only one left in the building. A fourth explosion occurs, the last. He sees the tanks five meters in circumference flying ten meters high, the ceiling exploding, the glasses shattering everywhere. He gets up, alone, and heads for the exit. Everyone sees him, he’s a real miracle. Then he collapses on the ground.
What he realizes today a posteriori is that it is not possible that this building is so dilapidated, and that he discovers that the pipes are more than 10 years old.
Florian was taken care of by the emergency services in a very serious condition.
He was airlifted to Bordeaux University Hospital, in a state of vital emergency, he was told. They didn’t keep it very long. After several days, he was told he could go home. So an ambulance took him home, with Doliprane. When the effects of the morphine wore off, late at night, he had to go to the emergency room in Toulouse. And there the hospital found out that they had sent him home when he was in a lot of pain. He was received at the Rangueil hospital which set up a drug treatment. Today, a team of nurses visits him three times a day. His state of health is changing every day.
Your client now points to failures on the site at the time of the events. Which ones?
Florian, he is 35 years old, he is 1.85m tall, he is a good guy, a rugby player. He is affected on the knee, the thighs, the back, he has edemas and hematomas. His testicles are severed under the blast of the explosion, his right thigh has tripled in volume. It is a feeling of apocalypse that he lived. This young man has become a block of suffering and pain. What he realizes today after the fact are questionable safety conditions and dangerous working conditions. Because if the site itself is classified Seveso “high threshold”, the building 75 where it was was curiously not classified ATEX, that is to say with an explosive atmosphere. He realizes that it is not possible that this building is so dilapidated, and that he discovers that the pipes are more than 10 years old. 42 degrees were announced, and there wasn’t even a thermometer to measure the heat in the workshop, whereas nitrocellulose is sensitive to the absence of hydrometry and to high heat.
Me, what I see today is a man who thinks his life is ruined. What he wants is for those responsible to be identified.
How is he today?
Me, what I see today is a man who thinks his life is ruined. He was to leave the next day to join his 5-year-old son in Prague. The reconstruction of a man is difficult physically, it is difficult psychologically. He is really in a very intense post-traumatic condition. What he wants is for those responsible to be identified. If indeed the security conditions are not respected, it will be necessary to identify those responsible. Working with nitrocellulose is part of his professional skills. What is complaining about is wanting to advance the security legislation to which this site must be subject, like all Seveso sites.