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“It’s a profession that is extremely damaging to health.” Alexandre is a roofer: a job that involves installing, repairing and maintaining roofs. And to carry out his missions, the young man frequently exposes himself to danger. For Brut, he reveals his daily life and the risks of his job.
Although it’s a job he’s used to, Alexandre is aware that roofing is not a job without risk. For him, the main danger is falling through a roof, an accident already experienced by the young man and many of his colleagues. “Roofer is a dangerous job because well, very often, when you work on old roofs, you don’t know what’s underneath. It has already happened to me, and it has also happened to quite a few of my colleagues, to pass through a roof.
Every day, Alexandre and his colleagues climb on the roofs and are in charge of their maintenance or renovation. But because of the height and the fragility of certain roofs, the young man regularly exposes himself to risks. “It’s true that we don’t really know where to put our feet, in particular, even to put on the safety harnesses, to attach ourselves, we already have to climb on the roof. And to get on the roof, even with the roof ladders, sometimes we have to go through it…”
In addition to being dangerous because of the risk of falling, the profession of roofer is also exhausting work. “The packet of tiles represents about 20 kilos. So there you go, you imagine, there are 400 stacks of tiles on the ground. So 400 times 20 kilos is weight…” For him, it is impossible to do this job all his life. “You can’t do this job for very long. Because… it’s a job that’s extremely damaging to your health. It’s a job where you know you’re going to have health problems over time.”, explains the young man.