While the heat wave in France ended at the start of the week, a report from Public Health France takes stock of this second heat wave which began on July 12.
It concerned most of the territory, 96% of the population experienced at least one day of orange vigilance and 16.5% one day of red vigilance.
Also according to this report, “four possible heat-related deaths were notified to Public Health France by the labor inspection system.
These four deaths took place during an orange or red heatwave vigilance.
A consolidated balance sheet will be produced in the balance sheet published at the end of the summer.
The latter echoes a press release from the public health agency on July 20, which already declared “two fatal work accidents possibly linked to exposure to heat”.
The first death took place in Occitania at the start of the heat wave, around July 12, and the second in Brittany when this region was placed on red alert, a few days later.
Two new deaths would then have occurred since.
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Public Health France had not given more details on the nature of these deaths, their precise date or the identity of the victims.
Europe already marked by several deaths linked to the heat wave
If it is still necessary to confirm the existence of a direct link between the heat wave and these deaths, this announcement comes in a European context marked by several deaths of workers victims of extreme temperatures.
These deaths, which took place in Spain or Italy, struck, for example, people working in warehouses, or agricultural employees.
They relaunched the debate on working conditions during heat waves, leading the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) to call for the introduction of “maximum working temperatures”.
Preventive measures had been put in place in France to protect people at risk as much as possible: “During this last heat wave, awareness messages aimed at groups at risk (people aged 65 and over, pregnant women, parents of young children) were sent by SMS to a department on alert, ”explained Public Health France.
