Six workers died trapped in a lift during the Oxy tower fire in central Brussels, La Libre reports
Six construction workers died after being trapped in a lift during a fire at the Oxy tower — the former Centre Monnaie on Place De Brouckère in central Brussels — according to a judicial-desk report published by La Libre Belgique on 14 July 2026. The account, which Belgium Pulse has not yet independently corroborated, points to a judicial investigation into how the men became trapped on the renovation site.
Six workers dying in a single incident would be among the deadliest construction-site accidents in recent Belgian history, on one of the most prominent building sites in the capital. How the men came to be trapped in a lift during a fire raises direct questions about evacuation procedures, fire compartmentation and lift-use rules during works — questions that matter to thousands of people working on Brussels' many active conversion sites and to residents who live around them.
The Oxy tower is the redevelopment of the former Centre Monnaie, a large 1970s office complex on Place De Brouckère in central Brussels that formerly housed Bpost headquarters and City of Brussels administrative services. It has been undergoing a major conversion into a mixed-use complex. According to La Libre Belgique (14 July 2026), six construction workers died during a fire at the site after being trapped in a lift. Belgian workplace deaths of this kind are investigated by the public prosecutor's office and the labour auditorate (auditorat du travail), the specialised prosecution service for employment and workplace-safety law.
Background
The Centre Monnaie was built in the early 1970s as part of the modernist remaking of the De Brouckère area, and for decades housed postal headquarters and city services before being emptied for redevelopment as 'Oxy' in the early 2020s. Belgium's construction sector has long recorded some of the country's highest rates of serious workplace accidents, and fatal incidents are handled by the labour auditorate under the well-being-at-work legislation of 1996.
What to do
People working on or living near large Brussels construction sites should expect heightened inspections; anyone with information about the incident may be contacted by investigators. Families of construction workers can seek information via the unions' and the labour auditorate's victim-support channels.
Impact
Regional — Brussels is in the middle of a wave of large office-to-mixed-use conversions (Oxy, the North Quarter towers, the Midi district). A judicial finding of safety failures at Oxy would put pressure on developers, contractors and the regional inspection services overseeing similar sites across the capital.
Opposing perspectives
- Construction trade unions (ACV-CSC BIE, FGTB Centrale Générale)
Belgium's construction unions have long argued that the sector's subcontracting chains and cost pressure erode site safety, and that inspection services are understaffed relative to the number of active sites. A six-fatality incident on a flagship Brussels site would, in their standing analysis, be evidence that enforcement and evacuation-planning obligations need tightening — a position they have taken after previous fatal accidents, independent of the specific findings in this case.
- Employers' federation Embuild and site developers
The construction employers' federation Embuild typically cautions against assigning blame before the labour auditorate and prosecutor establish the facts, noting that major urban renovation sites operate under detailed safety coordination plans required by Belgian law. Developers and contractors involved in large conversions generally argue that accident rates have been falling and that conclusions should wait for the official investigation.
Sources & evidence
- View sourceLa Libre Belgique — Pris au piège dans un ascenseur, six ouvriers sont morts dans l'incendie de la tour Oxy, au cœur dePrimary· lalibre.be· 14 July 2026Retrieved 17 July 2026· 3 days ago· Dated