what happens to reports made to the courts?

With 645 deaths recorded in 2021, France ranks among the worst countries in Europe in terms of workplace safety. In an attempt to prevent these accidents, 1,800 labor inspectors carry out checks every day in France. One of the tools at the disposal of these agents of the Ministry of Labor is the report, which they can draw up when they note during their inspections serious breaches on the part of employers in matters of health or safety. employees.

These reports are then sent to the public prosecutor so that he can initiate proceedings. But for many labor inspectors, once in the hands of justice, these acts would not be sufficiently followed by effects. What really happens to these offense reports in the courts? Are they followed by sanctions for employers caught at fault? On the occasion of an issue entitled “When work kills”, broadcast Thursday, April 20, “Complement of investigation” looked into the subject. And precisely answering this question is not simple.

The government does not provide official figures

In order to better gauge the effectiveness of the proceedings initiated, in 2007 the Ministry of Labor created the Observatory of criminal proceedings (OSP), responsible for listing all the reports sent to the courts and monitoring their progress. . But the labor inspectors contacted by “Complément d’Enquête” believe that this census would not be systematic. They denounce in any case a lack of transparency: according to them, these figures would be difficult, even impossible to obtain in certain departments.

Our teams were able to see it for themselves: asked to know the latest figures from this observatory, and in particular the proportion of reports giving rise to criminal proceedings in France, the Ministry of Labor did not respond to requests of “Further Investigation”.

In Seine-Saint-Denis, less than one in three PV gives rise to prosecution

For an overview of the situation, the specialist journal Health and Work studied in partnership with the program two samples of reports drawn up by labor inspectors in the departments of Seine-Saint-Denis and Seine-Maritime. The figures speak for themselves: in Seine-Saint-Denis, between 2014 and 2020, 150 reports drawn up for health or safety offenses were sent to the courts. According to the calculations of the CGT Labor inspectors, 51 of these PVs have already been dismissed, a rate of 34%.

For the rest, 43 of these 150 PVs (i.e. 28.7%) are still categorized as “ongoing investigation”, and only 43 have given rise to prosecution to date. “Thus, nearly two-thirds of companies in Seine-Saint-Denis fined for an offense concerning the health and safety of their employees suffer no consequences”deplores the union.

In Seine-Maritime, the sample includes 162 reports drawn up between 2017 and 2021. Among these procedures, 34 have already been dismissed, i.e. 20.9%. Just over 41% of the PVs are still under investigation and 16% have been followed up, the nature of which is unknown. Only 16.66% of the PVs gave rise to legal proceedings.

Unions denounce a lack of “political will”

According to the labor inspectors interviewed, these high rates of dismissal maintain a feeling of impunity among employers. These professionals do not feel supported in their work. “The prosecution does not consider non-compliance with the Labor Code as a breach of public order”, deplores Simon Picou, head of the CGT union at the Seine-Saint-Denis labor inspectorate. Gérard Le Corre, CGT union representative at the Seine-Maritime labor inspection, agrees.

We have very tough policies on traffic offences, where the department calls for systematic prosecutions. On the other hand, when it comes to white-collar crime, and in particular the issue of work accidents, there is no political will to make this issue a priority.

Gérard Le Corre, CGT union representative at the Seine-Maritime labor inspectorate

to “Further investigation”

In 2010, a survey of Health and work already established that almost half of the reports had produced no results once they reached court. According to the figures of the time, nearly 30% of the minutes drawn up had no known follow-up, while nearly 19.3% of the 93 minutes analyzed by the review had been purely and simply filed without follow-up. .

Following this investigation, the Observatory of criminal consequences of the General Directorate of Labor had – for once – published official figures. According to these data, the Ministry’s control officers had drawn up 10,149 reports in the field of health and safety between 2004 and 2009. The OSP had only been able to find the trace of 36% of them. And among this small proportion, one in four minutes had been dismissed.

“To prosecute systematically is to prosecute badly”

According to the editor of Health and Work François Desriaux, the situation has therefore not improved. “We make laws, regulations, but we don’t look at how we apply them. And it’s been like that for years. We made this observation 13 years ago. Today, unfortunately, it doesn’t ‘has not changed’he laments.

The story is different at the Bobigny court (Seine-Saint-Denis). Antoine Haushalter and Alix Bukulin, both deputy prosecutors in charge of occupational safety and health issues, reject any lack of political will on this subject. They believe that it is rather the lack of resources that weighs on their ability to prosecute employers at fault. While police stations and courtrooms are overloaded, “to prosecute systematically is to prosecute badly”they explain.

The two magistrates, however, claim to be “pro-active” to imagine other channels of penal response, in particular with regard to “petty offences”. “We have decided to send certain cases to a judge for a criminal order. We have also decided to create an internship in partnership with an association so that these minor offences, which we have trouble sending to the hearing, can still be the subject of an alternative penal response”, expose the two deputy prosecutors. These internships, the payment of which is “at the expense of business leaders”statistically result in a classification without further action, “while in reality there is still an answer”justify the magistrates.

The magazine “Complément d’Enquête”, entitled “Quand le travail tue”, is broadcast on Thursday April 20 at 11 p.m. on France 2, on franceinfo.fr and on france.tv.