What is the case about?
Seventy-nine employees of RATP, the Paris public transport operator that runs the metro, tram and bus networks of the capital region, have filed a case with the prud’hommes (the French labor court, which hears individual disputes between employees and employers). According to the employees and their union, the CGT, they would have been exposed for years in bus maintenance workshops to carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances (CMR substances), particularly diesel engine exhaust fumes from engines running indoors while the workshops’ ventilation and extraction systems allegedly functioned poorly.
According to French media, the complaints concern the 25 bus maintenance centers in the Île-de-France region, including depots in Ivry, Vitry-sur-Seine and the Point du Jour center in Paris. According to the union, the ventilation problems have allegedly been known to RATP since 2020. In addition to diesel exhaust fumes, employees also cite welding fumes, adhesive vapors and ammonia vapors as risk factors during bus maintenance work.
What is the legal status?
The proceedings before the prud’hommes have been running for some time and have grown substantially: twelve employees took the case to court in 2023, and according to actuel-hse.fr that number now stands at 79. The union publication NVO put the number of claimants at 84 in March. A hearing originally scheduled for 24 March 2026 was postponed to 30 September 2026. As far as is known, the court has not yet issued a ruling; the employees’ allegations have therefore not yet been legally established.
Among other things, the employees are seeking formal recognition of their exposure to CMR substances, access to enhanced medical monitoring, compensation for “anxiety-related harm” (préjudice d’anxiété, a form of damages recognized in France for the psychological burden of an increased health risk), and, for retired former employees, follow-up care at RATP’s expense. According to a French publication from 2024, RATP was previously fined 120,000 euros following enforcement notices from the labor inspectorate concerning the Championnet maintenance site. RATP did not respond to questions from NVO.
Context
Exposure to diesel exhaust fumes in the workplace falls under European regulations protecting workers against carcinogenic and mutagenic substances. Directive 2004/37/EC has set general rules for workplace exposure to CMR substances since 2004; in 2019, diesel engine exhaust fumes were explicitly added to its scope via amending Directive (EU) 2019/130, with a binding limit value of 0.05 mg/m³, measured as elemental carbon over an eight-hour reference period. That limit value has applied since February 2023; only underground mining and tunnel construction had a transitional period until February 2026. The limit has therefore already applied to bus workshops for several years.
Source: Exposition à des cancérogènes dans les ateliers de la RATP : 79 salariés devant les prud’hommes, October 1, 2026
Additional sources consulted: NVO.fr and Révolution Permanente on earlier phases of the same case; EUR-Lex for Directive 2004/37/EC and amending Directive (EU) 2019/130.
