Local Information System on Occupational Accidents: Subsidies for the Development of Public Policies on Occupational Health

Abstract

The informal labour market growth, the occupational accidents underreporting and the recent changes in the Brazilian labour legislation are topics that disrupt the construction of official data on the health and safety of the working population. These conditions reinforce the development of local and independent systems for collecting data on occupational accidents, as shown by the experience reported here, with the autonomy to overcome possible obstacles and to improve the information quality. Therefore, the results presented here are regarding to the second year of the system implementation in the city of São João del-Rei, Brazil. There were 257 cases of occupational accidents reported, being 69.3% classified as minor; 22.2% as moderated and 7.8% as serious. There were no records of fatal cases. The overall incidence was 11.47‰. The occupation with the highest number of notifications was, for the second year in a row, that of woodworkers, with 58 cases. The upper limbs were the most affected body parts, in approximately 70% of the occurrences. The diagnosis of cut-laceration injury occurred with the same frequency. Considering these data, we intend to develop assistance practices related to workers’ health, emphasizing surveillance, and meeting the principles of the assistance integrality and interprofessionality in the forms of work the health professionals have.