Every day in France, two to three people die at work. Why are workplace fatalities still occurring in 2026? Which sectors are most affected? And what can be done to reduce the toll? We met the families of victims and the labour inspectors who, despite limited resources, are working to prevent these deaths.
On July 15, 2025, Matis Dugast, a 19-year-old day labourer, died after being buried under 30 tonnes of tarmac at a road resurfacing site in southwest France. “He was trapped for 15 to 20 minutes under tarmac heated to 180 degrees Celsius. Emergency services were unable to save him,” says his mother, Murielle Dugast. The investigation is still ongoing, and the legal process has been slow. Today, she is speaking out to break what she calls a persistent silence. “We don’t talk enough about workplace accidents,” she says. “Yet work kills.”
Victims often young and in precarious jobs
As a history and geography teacher, Matthieu Lépine has spent the past decade compiling data on fatal workplace accidents using local press reports. The author of "L’Hécatombe invisible: enquête sur les morts au travail" (The Invisible Massacre: An Investigation into Workplace Fatalities) says victims are predominantly men, often young and in temporary or insecure employment. “When you are young or in a precarious situation, you are more likely to accept dangerous working conditions because you are in a position of inferiority,” he explains.
The sectors most affected are construction, heavy industry and transport. In 2024, France’s national health system recorded 764 deaths linked to workplace accidents. That figure excludes civil servants, farmers and the self-employed, suggesting the real number may be significantly higher.
A safety culture that falls short
In France, labour inspectors are tasked with enforcing safety standards. Yoann Journaux, a labour inspector in the Paris region, says he frequently encounters breaches. “Safety is not a priority, which helps explain France’s poor record on fatal workplace accidents,” he says.
A declining number of inspectors has made oversight more difficult. Across the country, nearly 300 positions remain unfilled, limiting both site inspections and preventive work.
Families fighting for justice
Sylvie and Fabrice Pertet lost their 21-year-old son, Jules, on July 26, 2023. He worked for the recycling company Paprec in Nîmes. While cleaning a bag-suction machine, it was restarted by another employee. Jules was pulled in and died instantly.
“Three days before the accident, he told me he wanted to resign because he didn’t feel safe,” says his mother. According to the labour inspector, “the accident should never have happened.” It is illegal to operate non-compliant machinery; the machine involved had 79 safety breaches, at least two of which were decisive.
Paprec rejects liability. “Some of these non-compliances existed, but they are not linked to the accident,” says the company’s lawyer, Fanny Colin. “The accident was caused by other employees failing to follow safety procedures.”
Are penalties too lenient?
For Jules’s parents, shifting blame onto workers is unacceptable. Like many families, they are calling for tougher penalties for companies that fail to ensure safe working conditions.
Véronique Millot, vice-president of the collective Familles – Stop à la Mort au Travail, argues that fines should be proportional to company turnover. “In 2021, the average fine was €30,000. That is an extremely light penalty for being responsible for someone’s death,” she says.
On March 26, Paprec was found guilty of manslaughter and fined €225,000. The manager of the Nîmes site received a three-year suspended sentence and a €10,000 fine. Both have appealed.
Two further trials involving the company are due in the coming weeks. In April, a court in Montpellier will hear the case of Paul Masselin, who was 23 when he was caught in a similar machine. He survived but with severe, permanent disabilities.
In May, Paprec will again appear in court in Nîmes over the death of Andres Cotonda, a 61-year-old logistics manager crushed by a bale of waste on May 23, 2025 – at the same site where Jules Pertet died two years earlier.
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