Worker Health in Brazil

Abstract

Occupational health and safety (OH&S) is related to the health, safety, and welfare issues in the workplace. It is guided by laws, standards, and programs aimed at making the workplace safer for workers, along with co-workers, family members, customers, and other stakeholders. Improvement in a company's occupational health and safety standards has the potential to improve the overall business environment and contribute to a better quality of work life. Brazil has historically reported high numbers of work accidents, which may have serious consequences to workers, resulting in permanent disability or even death. The country has also been developing some very successful policies related to worker health during the last years. The objectives of this paper were to analyze the evolution of statistics of work accidents in Brazil and the impact of some demographic and work variables in these numbers. Although there is a high incidence of workplace accidents in Brazil, there has been a reduction in the incidence of accidents, death, and accident-driven retirement. Despite the identified progress the situation is still extremely worrying. Responsibility for the construction, promotion and maintenance of a safe work environment should be shared by everybody - organizations, workers, unions, health system, among others, as being safe at work is a central aspect for quality of life.