Justice decided Thursday to suspend the order for the temporary closure of part of the site of the ArcelorMittal steelworks in Fos-sur-Mer, ordered by the labor inspectorate for an exposure deemed too high of employees to toxic products and dust.
Seized in summary proceedings, the administrative court of Marseille considered “that the measures requested by the labor inspector have been taken into account and that the immediate shutdown of the steelworks seriously undermines the freedom of trade and industry,” he wrote in a statement.
The steelworks, which employs around 450 people, being at the heart of the plant’s activity, its closure would “consequently lead to that of the entire site”, a huge complex of 1,600 hectares with 2,500 direct jobs and 1,500 employees. subcontractors, explained the management of the site.
The labor inspectorate had noted “serious irregularities involving the safety and health of personnel”, recalls the court.
Purchases of ventilated masks
“After several exchanges between the labor inspectorate and the management of the company, the latter proposed the successive implementation of two action plans in order to remedy these observations”, he continues.
The labor inspector having considered that these plans were insufficient, she, by decision of June 16, ordered the immediate closure of the steelworks site and ordered the company to take various immediate protective measures. he.
On the merits, the judge in chambers of the administrative court considered that the company had already implemented “a certain number of measures” and proposed “in a final plan established on June 29, measures prescribed by the labor inspector and in particular the immediate purchase of several hundred ventilated masks, regular dust cleaning by a specialized company, the installation of foggers, the tightness checks of certain installations, control visits “
Legal complaints.
The Provençal plant of the world’s second-largest steelmaker can produce four million tonnes of steel per year and is ranked among the French industrial sites generating the most greenhouse gases and pollutants, even if the steelmaker has started significant modernization works.
The site has been the subject of several formal notices from the prefecture as well as legal complaints for pollution, from local residents and NGOs, some of which have been rejected and others are still in progress.