Work suspended at Notre Dame | Culture

Our Lady rose this unusually quiet Friday. No cranes, no construction noise, no constant movement of workers. All the work of protection and recovery of the remains of the Gothic cathedral burned three and a half months ago were paralyzed "for a few days". These are orders from the Paris Prefecture, concerned that workers do not strictly follow the protocols to avoid significant exposure to lead that always infests the surroundings.

To enter the perimeter of the Notre Dame, surrounded by the April 15 fire of a wall preventing access to those who are not properly accredited, you must pbad by a small installation with water to decontaminate the shoes, operation which: It is also necessary to do it before going out again. The offices of the architects and the workers are located in containers placed after the cathedral, on a concrete platform, in an already decontaminated space and in which it is authorized to walk without protection. Something that changes as soon as you get to the temple area. For this, it is mandatory to wear work shoes, a combination and disposable gloves and a work helmet. In the case of workers, a mask is added.

"We take enormous precautions in the work to ensure, above all, the health of the workers and all those who are permanently in the area," said Wednesday the chief architect of Notre Dame, Philippe Villeneuve, to a group of journalists. "It's a problem we need to take seriously without falling into hysteria. The alarmist side is a bit caricatural, we must find a common ground, "he insisted, stressing that" we must really suck the soil to get sick. " And he stressed: "This is not Chernobyl." None of the tests done on the workers, he added, had so far given a lead contamination index, even close to the limits established by health.

However, it seems that the device in motion is not enough. And that the protocol dictated is not strictly respected. That's what a labor inspection report handed out this week to the prefecture of Ile de France in which is located Paris and which led his prefect, Michel Cadot, to decree the temporary suspension of work until these "adapt" to all the necessary precautionary measures and that the work teams receive the necessary training to ensure their "rigorous" compliance. According to Cadot Thursday, precautionary measures, such as the use of special combinations or decontaminant soap, "are not sufficiently enforced".

The announcement coincided with the closure for two days of two schools near Notre Dame offering summer courses to 180 children. It is also a precautionary measure, said the city council, after their detection – "only in the yard" – lead concentrations at levels greater than 5,000 micrograms of lead per square meter, a measure that activates warnings. During the closure, the "deep cleaning" of school courses will continue.