"I learned of my brother's death on Facebook. The local radio had published an article saying that a man in his thirties had died near the quarry," said Candice Carton. "I had a bad feeling, I called the gendarmerie, it was definitely him. The company waited until the next day to contact our mother." Her brother Cédric was reportedly hit by a stone following a mine blast on July 28, 2021, in a quarry at Wallers-en-Fagne in northern France. He had been working for Comptoir des calcaires et matériaux, a subsidiary of the civil engineering firm Colas Group, for 17 years.

Two and a half years later, the cause of death of the 41-year-old welder-mechanic remains unclear. Initially closed, the gendarmerie investigation was reopened in September 2023 following the conclusions of the labor inspectorate, which pointed to the 10 or so infractions for which the company was responsible. Cédric Carton didn't have the remote for isolated workers, which triggers an alarm in the event of a fall. "They found him two hours later," said his sister. "The quarry manager told me my brother was safe, and that he'd fainted, even though he had a gaping hole 20 centimeters deep from his throat to his chest." In search of answers, she tried to lodge two complaints, both of which were rejected, wrote several letters to the public prosecutor and took on two lawyers without ever getting to the bottom of this tragic story.

What happened? Was it "bad luck" or "occupational hazard"? Who is to blame? Every year, hundreds of families are confronted with these questions after the death of a loved one in a work accident, one that occurred "through or in the course of work, whatever the cause."

"A truck driver was found dead in his truck," "A 44-year-old worker was electrocuted," "A man dies crushed by a tree branch," "Two Romanian workers, a father and son, die on a building site in Istres [southern France]." Matthieu Lépine, a history and geography teacher, has been recording dramatic accidents from local press clippings since 2019 on his X account. His findings illustrate the scale of the phenomenon. Twenty-eight workplace deaths have been counted since January.

Fatal accidents twice as common among temporary workers

In 2022, according to the latest available figures, 738 deaths were recorded among recognized work-related accidents. That's two deaths a day, a figure up 14% year-on-year, but stable compared to 2019. And, for the last 15 years or so, it has not stopped rising. Added to this are 286 fatal commuting accidents that occur between home and the workplace and 203 deaths resulting from an occupational disease.

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