A saving meridian nap to rest the organisms during heat waves? This perspective, put on the mat by the president of the association of German public health doctors – and approved by the Minister of Health – has been talking a lot across the Rhine since a heat wave assailed the country in July. “In Germany, there is already a fund that compensates work stoppages due to high temperatures. In Cyprus, there is a maximum temperature beyond which certain sectors are prohibited from working,” remarks Hadrian ClouetLFI deputy for Haute-Garonne, who took the opportunity to point out that “France is very late on the subject” and that the Labor Code offers “almost nothing” to protect workers when the thermometer explodes.
With his colleagues Mathilde Panot and Caroline Fiat, the Toulousain is the editor of a Law proposition “aimed at adapting the Labor Code to the consequences of global warming”. It was filed on July 20 with the office of the National Assembly. Despite the hot news, Hadrien Clouet does not believe that the majority will put it on the back-to-school agenda, but LFI intends to take advantage of its next “parliamentary niche” in November to push it into the spotlight. . “We know full well that the episodes of summer heat will multiply [Météo-France prévoit leur multiplication par 10 d’ici à la fin du siècle]and it would be good if we were at least ready for next summer, ”insists the Toulousain.
What does the Labor Code say?
So what is this “almost nothing” already provided for in the Labor Code? Firstly, it requires employers to ensure good ventilation of indoor premises, and to “provide” – inside and out – fresh water. “An obligation which is rather well respected”, recognizes the deputy. More generally, an employee can exercise his right of withdrawal if he observes “a work situation which he has reasonable grounds to believe presents a serious and imminent danger to his life or health”. But without specific reference to heat peaks. Furthermore, the Labor Code leaves it up to employers to assess the danger themselves in the event of an extreme “thermal environment”. “With the risk that the one who is more concerned about the health of his employees will stop his site while his competitor continues his by doing social dumping”, criticizes the deputy for Toulouse who also notes that he does not exist for the time in France “no temperature threshold beyond which activity can be reduced or even stopped”.
Six-hour days and cool “breaks”
The signatory LFI deputies want to make the regulations more concrete and more restrictive for employers; “First, we propose to reduce working time when it is too hot because we know that the body gets tired, that vigilance drops and that people are in danger, some even suffer cardiac arrest on returning at home”, explains Hadrien Clouet. For this, the proposal defends “a right to a break” – obviously “paid” – which could come into effect from 28°C and then lengthen as temperatures increase. The other strong idea is to simply limit working time to 6 hours a day for certain trades in areas where Météo-France activates the orange heat wave vigilance level. As for the red level, exceptional but activated this Tuesday in four French departments, the proposal is quite simply to cease all activity for the most exposed trades, such as construction worker or agricultural employee.
Another measure envisaged, the possibility for the Labor Inspectorate to order itself the stoppage of a construction site when the temperatures are too high.
Finally, today, the “bad weather” fund in the construction sector makes it possible to compensate for work stoppages when storms or storms occur. But, apart from a few local experiments, the heat wave hazard is not yet on the program. The bill, in tune with certain SMEs concerned, suggests remedying this.