While The Team revealed that the labor inspectorate had interrupted work on the Versailles construction site for safety reasons in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the organizing committee assured this Tuesday that everything is back to normal and that the deadlines will be respected.
The organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was forced to react. This Tuesday, the daily The Team revealed that work on the Versailles site, which is to host horse riding and the equestrian event for the modern pentathlon, was interrupted on March 8 by the labor inspectorate.
According to the newspaper, the labor inspectorate considered that there was a “serious danger of falling from a height” for the employees who were installing the stands and stands of the enclosure. In charge of the work, the company GL Events indicated for its part that the construction site had not been stopped. A 16,300-seat stadium must be built for the event.
“In continuation of the projects carried out by Solidéo on permanent structures, Paris 2024 has implemented the highest standards in terms of safety, on all the sites of its temporary installations,” commented Cojo on Tuesday. “The assembly of the stands and temporary installations of the Olympic and Paralympic Games competition sites requires the greatest attention and increased vigilance in order to ensure the safety of all those working on the various construction sites. The safety of the companions being the collective priority.”
The organizers assure that the calendar will be kept
For the organizing committee, “labor inspection teams intervene very regularly on all the construction sites of the Paris 2024 sites for control operations.” The Cojo, however, concedes that “construction site interruptions were decided as a preventive measure on certain specific operations on the sites carried out by Paris 2024 and its partner GL Events, in Versailles and at La Concorde, without reference to possible immediate dangers.”
According to the organizers, the projects could be continued and the schedule was not disrupted, ensuring their collaboration to provide answers to the questions raised by the labor inspectorate. Except that this version does not really fit with the April 11 order of the Versailles administrative court, which did not authorize the resumption of the construction site.
During its hearing, the company GL Events called for the resumption of the site in order not to risk “delay penalties”, while highlighting a “major public interest” in resuming the work. The company also brushed aside the possibility of a “serious and imminent danger”. “No element concerning the solidity of the harnesses, the only means of protection, could be provided during the inspection or subsequently”, for its part pointed out the administrative court in its order issued in summary proceedings. One thing is certain: GL Events has until July 27, the start date of the equestrian events, to deliver the stands.