Le droit au suivi post-professionnel et sa non mise en œuvre. Le cas des irradiés des armes nucléaires de Brest

This contribution illustrates the barriers to the effectiveness of post-career medical follow-up, an available occupational health surveillance tool that has received little attention in social sciences. We conducted a collaborative survey with retired civilian workers from the military nuclear industry, previously assigned to assembling missiles and maintaining nuclear submarines at Brest, the main nuclear harbor in France. The post-career medical follow-up is a right included in the Social Security code. We hypothesized that some of its constitutional dimensions play a significant role in the low recourse to this follow-up and paradoxically contribute to making invisible occupational exposures to carcinogens and their consequences. This action research presented here illustrates knowledge production through a survey and the knowledge synergy between researchers and participants. It also shows the potential of post-career follow-up in health monitoring.