[Mortality among active workers at EDG-GDF: social and occupational disparities and evolution]

Two studies, conducted in the eighties and the nineties, reported that mortality was lower in the French national electric and gas company (EDF-GDF) the utility workers than in the general French population. The purpose of our study was to compare the mortality of these 140,000 utility workers to that of the French population of the same age for the period from 1997 to 2001. Secondly we aimed to assess the disparities of mortality among the workforce according to demographic and socioprofessional criteria. Finally, we analyzed the evolution of this mortality over the last twenty years.

We undertook a cross-sectional study using the indirect standardization method.

Risk of death was lower in the utility workers than in the French population (SMR=54% for men, and 58% for women). These differences had increased over the last twenty years for each main cause of death (cancers, cardio-vascular diseases and accidents). The reported excess of brain cancer death risk raises etiologic questions. Moreover, we noticed important social disparities in the workforce, increasing with time.

The well-known "healthy worker effect" seems to be particularly important in the EDF-GDF company. The workers have a high level of living conditions and good working conditions, although internal social disparities persist. Further studies in other large corporations are greatly needed for comparisons.