2023-05-05 15:30:17
“Certainly a social appeasement measure”, quipped on Twitter on April 30 Anthony Smith, CGT manager at the Ministry of Labor. On the sidelines of the demonstrations against the pension reform, a decree dating from April 24 authorizes employers to cut off hot water in sanitary facilities in companies and buildings for professional use. Reason invoked: energy sobriety.
The consumption of domestic hot water in tertiary premises shows a constant increase, according to figures from the Ministry of Ecological Transition: it reached 22.6 billion kilowatts/hour (kWh) in 2019, against 21.9 billion kWh in 2013. That is more than 10% of the total energy consumption of tertiary buildings.
This decree applying until June 30, 2024, the measure will be valid this winter. The text does not set a minimum outdoor temperature to be reached. The buildings concerned include schools, hospitals and public establishments, but only the toilets reserved for workers in these buildings.
Risk of bacteria proliferation
However, it will not be so easy to cut off the hot water to its employees. The employer must first collect the opinion of the social and economic committee (CSE), if it exists. In addition, the single occupational risk assessment document (DUERP), mandatory in all companies with at least one employee and sent by the employer to the occupational health prevention service, must establish that no risk exists for the safety and health of workers due to the lack of hot water.
However, certain bacteria proliferate when the temperature of the water is lukewarm, that is to say between 20 and 45 degrees, in particular legionellosis (which does not like cold water). ” In twenty years of practice I have already had the case of a person who died of this disease and that of an employee who found himself paralyzed, simply after having sprayed his face “recalls Camille Pradel, a lawyer specializing in occupational health.
In his view, moreover, it will be necessary to be very careful in the DUERP, in particular to the risks of water stagnation ». In the absence of sufficiently precise legislative texts on the subject, “it is necessary to refer to the standards of good practice”.
Showers excluded
To prevent legionellosis, the Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency recommends ” purge all points of use in the event of prolonged absence », to avoid in particular the stagnation of lukewarm water in the water heater, and points out that an order of November 30, 2005 recommends a temperature greater than or equal to 50°C at any point in the distribution system, “with the exception of the final supply tubes of the draw-off points”, specifies the decree.
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