Óbitos por causas externas e acidentes de trabalho no município da Serra-ES

Abstract

This is a descriptive study on external causes of mortality, from 2000 to 2005 among males and females older than 10 years and resident in Serra, Espírito Santo; it aims to describe the profile of the employed population, the pattern of deaths due to external causes according to: cause, gender, age range, occupation and at last to identify relations occurring between deaths due to external causes and occupational accidents. Official/governmental database was used for this study. Results were analyzed in two distinctive time periods: 2000 to 2002 and 2003 to 2005. It was observed that in five years the number of formally employed inhabitants increased 85.07% while general population’s increase reached only 19.31%; the construction sector was the greatest contributor for the increase, being responsible for 25.55% of the new formal jobs. It was also observed that from 2000 to 2002 external causes were the main cause of death, representing 30.1%, while from 2003 to 2005 they were second most relevant cause of death reaching 28.2%. It was found that, in average, a proportion of 8 males for every diseased female due to external causes. Homicides still maintain greater impact on young adults and male population: on individuals aged 15 to 19 years old (decreasing for older individuals) it represents 83.56% and 89.18% of deaths and for males it varies from 72.2% to 73.61% for the two time-periods studied respectively. For most occupations, external causes are responsible for the largest proportion of deaths; homicides being reported for 67.22% of deaths from 2000 to 2002 and 69.7% from 2003 to 2005. Students had the largest proportion of deaths by external causes for both time-periods: 12.81% and 12.07% respectively. Between 2000 and 2002 there was an increase in deaths due to external causes of 10.4% for hand laborers, 9.94% for construction workers and 5.01% for drivers. In the years of 2003 to 2005 the average increase was 14.36%, 11.74% for construction workers, 9.93% for hand laborers and 4.52% for office workers. Approximately 98% of deaths have no information on occupational accidents; the ones that have it are under the following categories: other accidents (51.43%), transportation accidents (25.71%) and falls (22.86%). Approximately fourteen percent (14.29%) of deaths present no information on the subject’s occupation. It was observed that work related accidents are identified mainly for 11 industry and construction occupations; there is no visibility for accidents taken place on the context of the streets. The profile of deaths due to external causes found in this study can be explained by some characteristics of the portrayed city: late industrialization, late urbanization, recent economic development where industries are keys to the increase of job opportunities in construction, commerce and services and at last the informality and precariousness of work bonds that generate structural conditions for social inequity. In this scenario, through improvements on the locally produced information and focusing on creating feasible and effective actions, the issue of occupational accidents should be dealt with.