FROM ACCIDENT TO REGRESSIVE ACTION: A SYSTEMATIC APPLICATION FOR ANALYZING ACCIDENTS WITH PRESSES AND SIMILAR TYPES

APLICAÇÃO DE UMA SISTEMÁTICA PARA ANÁLISE DE ACIDENTES COM PRENSAS E SIMILARES

Abstract

Work accidents claim the lives of thousands of workers in Brazil every year, especially in work involving machinery. Current practice in companies during investigations is to attribute the accident's occurrence to the worker's inappropriate behavior. Accidents involving presses and similar types of work are usually severe or even fatal when they occur. Among its functions, the Labor Inspection Office (AFT) inspects machinery operations, analyzing situations with a potential risk of generating accidents at work and determining the necessary preventive measures. This paper aimed to develop a system for investigating accidents involving presses and similar types of work, aiming to improve future analyses by the AFT and the effectiveness of possible regressive actions taken by the State. The system is based on the idea that accidents are consequences of a precarious organizational context and not of unsafe behavior by workers. The methodology was based on the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) model, developed to identify and classify human errors, allowing the study of the main problems in accident analysis reports prepared by the Labor Inspection. It was applied in two real cases to evaluate the system's functioning. The results indicated that the system was flexible into specific cases, being adjusted within a context closer to that used by the Labor Inspection.