Textos e Dados 5a

8/14/2019 Textos e Dados 5a

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Work Accidents in Brazil: the workers under permanent risk

The official records are far from portraying the reality of the world of workin Brazil. It is estimated that over one third of Brazilian workers are

embedded in the so-called formal labor market, or are registered asworkers (military, public servants, autonomous professionals, have theirown structures or other types of bonds of legal nature for the socialsecurity), which guarantees them a minimum of social rights. "Accordingto the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD 2008, the number ofworkers in Brazil reached 92.4 million people from ten or more years ofage, and of these 31.9 million are registered." 1 As a general rule areforgotten the thousands of foreign workers who settle in Brazil, which areillegal, subjected to systems of slavery mostly in large cities. In thiscontext is presented one of our biggest problems, which is translated in

poor working conditions that are offered to employees. In this context thenational indices of Work Accidents remain high, but only a limited amountworth recording. The following are the data relative to the period 1998 to2007, in what refers to accidents at work, which had official annotation inBrazil:

Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002Accidents 414.341 387.820 363.868 340.251, 393.071,

Deaths 3.793 3.896 3094 2753 2.968Disabled 15.923 16.757 15.317 12.038 15.259OccupationalDiseases

30.489 23.903 19.605 18.487 22.311

Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007Accidents 399.077 465.700 499.680 512.232 653.090Deaths 2.674 2.801 2.708 2.717 2.804Disabled 13.416 12.563 13.614 8.383 8.504Occupational

Diseases

23.858 30.194 33.096 30.170 20.786

FORGSFederao Operria do Rio Grande do Sul

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Dados

CEPSCentro de Estudos e Pesquisa Social

Number 05


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Source: Statistical Yearbook of Work Accidents (AEAT) work done bythe Ministry of Social Welfare in partnership with the Ministry of Labor andEmployment. 2

In general working conditions are very risky, and the supervision of theMinistry of Labor and Employment, responsible for monitoring theworkplace in Brazil, is insufficient. "There are about three thousand workfiscal auditors working in supervision activities, it would take twice thefederal public servants, invested in this task by tracking the reality ofwork. Another component that inhibits a more resolute action of thesupervisory organs is the contingent of federal funds, which sometimesprevents the movement of tax and maintenance of field actions. Often thelabor inspectors have to make expenditures on their own withdisplacement and meet the costs of board and lodging. 3 Following thecompanies that serve the "Regulatory Standards", better known as RS,Decree no. 3214 of 08 June 1978, which govern and regulate the workingenvironment are part of the exception. The vast majority of companiesoperate in poor conditions. It is, therefore, in these dangerousenvironments, arduous and unhealthy and poorly lit, that the employeeshave to undergo to ensure their livelihood. Added to these factors, thelong and exhausting working hours, the constant lack of PersonalProtective Equipment and of collective use. "According to the Departmentof Politics of Social Welfare of MPS, the most frequent accidents are withthe fist and account for 27.5% of cases. Including the cases of synovitisand tenosynovitis, the percentage rises to 30%. This shows that one thirdof the accidents occur as a result of lack of empowerment of people orlack of equipment and suitable working procedures and the use ofobsolete equipment. They are accidents that could be avoided quiteeasily investing more in training in safe work process and replacing theobsolete machines. "4 In this particular, by way of example we cite theRegulatory Norm. 6, which is true work of fiction, because predicts for thetraining of workers in the use of Personal Protective Equipment. Hereinlays one of the biggest gaps that workers have to overcome, as theemployers in this country are reluctant to provide the equipmentnecessary to protect the worker and even when they provide, are of lowquality. In short there is no equipment and training. On top of that trainingworkers in our country is symptomatic.Millions of workers are in the condition of illiterate, semi-literate orfunctional illiterate. Collecting 2008 data from the PNAD we have:"Among the employed, 7.8 million people (8.4%) had no education or hadless than a year of study, 8.6 million people (9.3% ) had 1 to 3 years ofstudy, 21.8 million people (23.6%) had 4 to 7 years of study and 16.0

million people (17.3%) ranged from 8 to 10 years of study "5 If the dataare correct we have the official total of 54.2 million workers without having


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completed secondary education, which in theory would still be free withthe primary. In short, the execrable statement observed in Brazil leads tolow qualification that is one of the components of acceptance of poorworking conditions and also difficult to organize workers in the rejection of

job insecurity. The fact that many workers are in informality or even, tohave job, but that without proper registration (formal link) exacerbatestheir miserable situation. "Among the 92.4 million people from ten or moreyears of age employed 48.1 million (52.1%) were contributing to socialsecurity funds in 2008" 6 In theory these are supported by socialinsurance. The worker on condition of informality and underemploymentthat suffers any accident at work without proper registration in license,suffers double jeopardy because it is deprived of the few and inadequatesocial security and social rights to which the worker is registered by thecompany. In addition to having to earn their living and getting nothing ofinsurance and compensation for suffering concussion, they still have topay for treatment that is generally very expensive. Even the formalworkers sometimes do not have all their rights guaranteed, because incase of partial or total disability for work, notes that the company thatexploited them no longer exists or is in default with full reference to thepayment of social tax, what may cause you inconvenience. It is also worthnoting that many entrepreneurs do not have the financial structure torepair damage caused to the health of their employees, whether negligentor intentional. Companies that overlook the record of the workers arefailing to contribute to Social Security and, consequently, with a profiteven more criminal.

On top of that the denial of the fiscal taxes, further weakens the alreadyweakened public health system in Brazil. Aside from that tax evasion iscommon for entrepreneurs to deny access of injured workers to theservice desk. It's called "no notification" of the Occupational Accident.With that, workers no longer receive the days off for the firm and socialinsurance and risk being dismissed because it challenges the unofficialprovisional guarantee employment to the injured. There are cases ofcompanies where the employee, whether injured or suffering fromoccupational health problems, remains active. The fear of losing their jobsand the consequent livelihood in which generally include the familymembers contribute to the maintenance of this state. Occupationaldiseases can also be uncertainty in this regard. "You can defineoccupational disease as any disease caused by work or the conditions ofthe environment on which it runs. The Brazilian legislation definesoccupational or work diseases in Decree 2172 of 05 March 1997, Article132, sections I and II, and Annex II, equalizing to all intents and purposes,to the work accident. It also states in Article 132, paragraph 2 of Decree2172, which, in exceptional cases, noting that a disease is not included

on the list included in Annex II resulted from special conditions underwhich work is performed and it is related directly to Social Security should


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equate it to the work accident "7 Sometimes the symptoms can bealleviated (doctored). Often we hear that industry colleagues workingunder the influence of drugs or similar painkillers to reduce pain, includingused without proper prescription. It is the fear of losing their jobs, to stayaway and returning to find his place occupied by another worker.Contributes to that, that Social Security makes payments only inproportion, meaning a significant reduction in wages. Very common is thebenefit of the employee seeking to keep busy which tends to worsen theiralready battered situation. A recent change of conduct on the part offederal agencies (2007) make possible the morbid accounting of 138,955Occupational Accidents or more, which have not been given sufficientand necessary formal notification required by law to employers (withoutWork Accident Communication Registered).

"In 2007 there was a significant increase in the records of accidents. Thisfact is due to the first reflection of the official adoption of the SocialSecurity Epidemiological Technical Nexus in the system for grantingaccident benefits. With the new methodology introduced by SocialSecurity, some diseases, which were previously reported as non-workaccident, are identified as accidental, based on the correlation betweenthe causes of the expulsion and the sector of worker activity groups. Ishow these cases are suspected, there is no need to issue theCommunication of Work Accident. " 8 In 2007, were registered, ascontained in the Statistical Yearbook of Occupational Accidents (AEAT2007), 9 514,135 occupational accidents, which are added to the 138,955cited without proper record, but noted in the attendances made in thepublic health system and which are classified as typical of the work,making a total of 653,090 accidents. They are mostly OccupationalDiseases. In the light of the available data also is noted that Brazil isamong the countries with the highest incidence of accidents at work andcompete in that we are included among the highest number of deaths."The statistics show that between 1971 and 2000 (30 years), died inBrazil more than 120,000 people and another 300 thousand remainedinvalid, all victims of more than 30 million work-related injuries reported inthe period" 10 27 / 06/2006.

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

China

14924

USA

5559

Russia

4370

Brazil

3094

Deaths - 2000


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Looking at the dramatic estimates of the International Labor Organization(ILO) necessarily have to take into account the following data: "The ILOestimates (2008) that 6,000 workers die each day in the world due toaccidents and diseases related to work, a number that is increasing(these numbers can be calculated in 2.2 million deaths caused byaccidents or occupational diseases). In addition, each year there are 270million non-fatal accidents at work (resulting in a minimum of three daysabsence from work) and 160 million new cases of occupational diseases.The ILO estimates that the total cost of these accidents amounts to 4% ofglobal GDP or more than twenty times the total cost for investments indeveloping countries. " 11 In short, the work without conditions, claims thelives and health of millions of people, and investors hypocritically call itdevelopment. It also is important to understand the Accidents at Workthat permanently disable workers involved in this misfortune. The officialscall attention to this tragedy, which plays in the absolute impoverishmentof thousands of workers every year. The numbers, obviously, do not showthe real situation that the injured are in a position of permanenthyposufficience. On top of the suffering of the victim is still the familyinvolvement, which many times is to serve permanently the injured,thereby decreasing family incomes, because the spending increases.There are many instances of Accidents at Work, only the pests mentionedof the exploitation of workers will, unfortunately, add. In particular, it istimely to consider what is observed in the growth of accidents in the wayto the work. Following we present graphically the data for the last tenyears:

Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002Accidentsin theway towork

26.114 37.513 39.300 38.799 46.881

Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007Accidentsin theway towork

49.642 60.336 67.971 74.636 78.564

Source: Statistical Yearbook of Work Accidents (AEAT) work done bythe Ministry of Social Welfare in partnership with the Ministry of Labor andEmployment. 12


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In 10 years the number of work accidents more than doubled whichshows that the constituted authorities proved awkward to solve this kindof situation. You can still include accidents involving professionals whodrive motor vehicles (cars, motorcycles, trucks, SUVs, buses, etc..),Which has grown because the traffic in Brazil is one of that most takeslives. The situation of rural workers also is rooted in the harsh workingconditions which, in most cases, are still manual and a permanent risk,this means millions of workers are exposed to every kind of risk at work,not receiving EPI, many are not formally registered in and often beingtransported in a vehicle without the minimum conditions of transit, alongwith supplies and tools, which further increases the risk of accidents anddamage. On top of that, thousands of rural workers, working directly withchemicals, which nature (side effects on health) is completely unknown.Always remember that the defensive leave traces that can attack thehealth of other jobs that perform management of the plantation, includingeffecting crops. The number for rural men and women, with respect topathology of work, remain unclear, which prevents an accurate diagnosisof the situation in concrete. The area of prevention and job training,receives input of resources were wholly inadequate. Continue attackingthe consequences and not the causes of problems. "Given the federalgovernment data show that accidents and illnesses cost annually U.S. $10.7 billion to the coffers of Social Security, responsible for the paymentof sickness benefit, aid, accident and pensions." 13 Unfortunately thegovernors on duty bet on expensive curative model, neglecting thepositive aspects of prevention, these objectively, cheaper. "TheInternational Labor Organization (ILO) estimates (2005) that the countriesof Latin America and the Caribbean lose $ 76 billion a year on deaths andinjuries caused by occupational diseases. According to the entity it meanssomething between 2% and 4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in theregion. "14 To equalize this tragic situation, only the direct action ofworkers themselves, mediated by their organization from the workplace,will allow, through pressure and mobilization, the reversal of this situationdisastrous.

Sources:

1.http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id

_noticia=1455&id_pagina=1For comparison purposes we attach the data found in 2004: Data fromthe synthesis of social indicators of the Brazilian Institute of Geographyand Statistics (IBGE) show that in 2004, 30.4% of the employedpopulation in the country had formal employment, or three in ten

Brazilians. This group is protected against accidents at work; itcontributes to Social Security, which pays sickness benefit, aid, accident


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and disability pensions. But the IBGE also shows that 22% of theEconomically Active Population of Brazil is self-employed, and 18.3% areemployed without a contract. This group is not entitled to Social Securitybenefits, and are not eligible to the domestic workers that do notcontribute (according to the survey, the total number of domestic workersis equivalent to 7.7% of the population) and non-paid workers, whoaccount 7.7%. They are protected by a special system of insuranceagainst accidents at work and the military statutory servants, amountingto 6.6% of the EAP. In short, there is no record of accidents at work formore than half of Brazilian workers

2.http://www.previdencia.gov.br/

3. Syndicate of Fiscal Auditors of Labor;Another problem concerns the structural problems, in particular,with respect to the amount of staff available and the possibility of theiruse. Tax auditors in insufficient numbers indicate the urgent need to holdnew public contest for the Special Group of Mobile Inspection can beextended and renovated. Annual Assessment - PPA 2000-2003 year2002.http://www.camara.gov.br/internet/comissao/index/mista/orca/ppa/ppa202000-2003/ppa_rel_aval/021_Trabalho%% 20e% 20Emprego.PDF

4.

www.previdenciasocial.gov.br/.../agprev_mostraNoticia.asp?...30...

5.http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_pagina=

6.http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_pagina=

7.http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/8084/Conc_doe.htm

8.http://www.mte.gov.br/sistemas/atlas/Boletim/acidente/acidente.html


10.http://cecac.org.br

11.http://www.oitbrasil.org.br/28deabril.php

http://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/8084/Conc_doe.htmhttp://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/8084/Conc_doe.htmhttp://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/8084/Conc_doe.htmhttp://www.mte.gov.br/sistemas/atlas/Boletim/acidente/acidente.htmlhttp://www.mte.gov.br/sistemas/atlas/Boletim/acidente/acidente.htmlhttp://www.mte.gov.br/sistemas/atlas/Boletim/acidente/acidente.htmlhttp://www.mte.gov.br/sistemas/atlas/Boletim/acidente/acidente.htmlhttp://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://cecac.org.br/http://cecac.org.br/http://cecac.org.br/http://www.oitbrasil.org.br/28deabril.phphttp://www.oitbrasil.org.br/28deabril.phphttp://www.oitbrasil.org.br/28deabril.phphttp://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.oitbrasil.org.br/28deabril.phphttp://cecac.org.br/http://www.previdencia.gov.br/http://www.mte.gov.br/sistemas/atlas/Boletim/acidente/acidente.htmlhttp://www.mte.gov.br/sistemas/atlas/Boletim/acidente/acidente.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/8084/Conc_doe.htmhttp://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1455&id_paginahttp://www.previdencia.gov.br/


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13.http://www.riscobiologico.org/detalhes_topico.asp?id_pagina=148&id_topico=754

14.http://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/07/27/materia.2007-07-27.2077542540/view
http://www.riscobiologico.org/detalhes_topico.asp?id_pagina=148&id_topico=754http://www.riscobiologico.org/detalhes_topico.asp?id_pagina=148&id_topico=754http://www.riscobiologico.org/detalhes_topico.asp?id_pagina=148&id_topico=754http://www.riscobiologico.org/detalhes_topico.asp?id_pagina=148&id_topico=754http://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/07/27/materia.2007-07-27.2077542540/viewhttp://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/07/27/materia.2007-07-27.2077542540/viewhttp://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/07/27/materia.2007-07-27.2077542540/viewhttp://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/07/27/materia.2007-07-27.2077542540/viewhttp://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/07/27/materia.2007-07-27.2077542540/viewhttp://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/07/27/materia.2007-07-27.2077542540/viewhttp://www.riscobiologico.org/detalhes_topico.asp?id_pagina=148&id_topico=754http://www.riscobiologico.org/detalhes_topico.asp?id_pagina=148&id_topico=754

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