Evaluation of the strategy for identification and measurement of the fatal accidents at work

Abstract

In order to evaluate the strategy used by the Municipal Health Department of Belo Horizonte (SMSA/BH) for reducing the under-reporting of deaths from work-related accidents during the years of 2008 to 2010, a deterministic comparison of data on deaths from work-related accidents as reported in SINAN and SIM was conducted. As a complementary strategy to the deterministic comparison, the Investigation Data Sheets and Death Certificates were analyzed, which although not clearly declared, were suspected of involving death by work-related accident. Death from work accident was confirmed when the same victim, same accident, with a temporal connection between accident and death, were matched. The complementary strategy used by SMSA reduced the under-reporting identified by deterministic linking, with an increase of 45 deaths. Higher rates of under-reporting of deaths in the SINAN (n = 117) were found than in the SIM (n = 70). Although data linkage between SIM/SINAN is a necessary strategy to reduce the under-reporting of deaths from accidents, it is still insufficient, considering the limitations still present in both systems. The complementary strategy adopted by SMSA/BH, which is simple and easy to perform, yields good results.