Labor inspectors did not come for nothing. On Friday, an unexpected check was carried out on the site of an Asian restaurant which will soon open its doors in the commercial area of Langueux near Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d’Armor). On the spot, the labor inspection services, accompanied for the occasion by public finance agents and police officers, noted the presence of ten workers of Chinese nationality, nine of them being employees of a company based in the Paris region. The last was, meanwhile, in a concealed work situation and without a work permit.
By conducting the interrogations, the inspectors mainly discovered that the ten workers were sleeping on the site. “Nine beds are located in five separate rooms and one in a future cold room”, details in an order issued by the prefect of Côtes-d’Armor the departmental directorate of employment, labor and solidarity.
A major risk of fire, electric shock and falling
For the Chinese workers, the accommodation conditions were precarious to say the least since none of the rooms had a ventilation and heating system or a window. The hygiene of the places also left something to be desired and no separation had been marked between the sleeping places and the site itself.
In the wake of the check, the prefect of Côtes-d’Armor immediately issued an order to put an end to the situation and ordered the relocation of the workers to lodgings or hotels. Stéphane Rouvé justifies his decision by the dangers that weighed on the “physical and psychological integrity” of the workers, pointing in particular to “a major risk of fire and electrification”, “a major risk of falling from a height” and “a risk hypothermia in extreme cold. »