The risk of collapse had not been reported. The Sud Industrie du Nord-Pas-de-Calais union filed a complaint on Monday with the prosecutor of Valenciennes against Alstom Crespin for endangering employees, we learned from the union and his lawyer.
According to the complaint addressed to the prosecutor, consulted by AFP, the railway manufacturer “knowingly made the employees of the company work for three years in a building that he knew threatened to collapse at any time”.
“Building in poor condition”
The complaint mentions an expertise commissioned in 2018 by the northern site, then owned by the manufacturer Bombardier, concerning a building “dating from the 1960s” which, the union told AFP, houses resistance tests on elements of the trains built. by the company.
The expert’s report depicts a “building in poor condition” risking collapse, said Stéphane Ducrocq, one of the union’s lawyers, who was aware of the document. But “neither the social and economic committee [CSE], nor the employees were alerted by the employer of the existence of this report and of this serious danger ”, of which the employer“ was fully aware of the existence ”, denounces the complaint.
The Crespin plant becomes the property of the French manufacturer Alstom in early 2021. The building is finally evacuated in the summer of 2021, following a new assessment, then secured during works to be currently used again, according to the union.
“The luck was that nothing happened and that there was no accident”, declared Me Ducrocq, who sees “clearly a negligence”.
“Look for those responsible”
If the prosecutor follows up on the complaint and “if the criminal offense is confirmed by the prosecution”, the latter can then “find those responsible”, indicates Me Ducrocq. Contacted by AFP on Monday, Alstom did not wish to communicate immediately.
The Crespin plant is the largest railway plant in the country, and has 2,000 employees (including 1,600 permanent contracts). After its acquisition by Alstom during the takeover of its competitor Bombardier in January 2021, “Alstom takes over the rights and obligations of Bombardier”, according to Me Ducrocq.