Indicators of sickness absence express the magnitude of this phenomenon in the public sector and can assist in planning health actions for the worker, prioritizing the most vulnerable occupational groups.

OBJECTIVE:To estimate the proportion of occupational accident benefits granted within the total for health-related social security benefits, viewing the costs according to benefit type and the impact on productivity according to work days lost. METHODS:Records of benefit decisions from the National Benefits System of the National Social Security Institute for the State of Bahia in 2000 were utilized. Occupational accidents were defined in accordance with the clinical diagnoses of External Causes, Injuries and Poisoning (SS-00 to T99) of the International Classification of Diseases, 10 th Revision, and with the benefit type, which distinguishes between occupational and non-occupational health problems. RESULTS:A total of 31,096 benefits granted due to illnesses or health problems were studied. Of these, 2,857 (7.3%) were caused by work accidents. Greater proportions were found among workers in the manufacturing, construction, electricity and gas industries, accounting for 18% of the total benefits. The costs of occupational accident benefits were estimated to be R$8.5 million, with around half a million work days lost during the year studied. CONCLUSIONS:Despite the fact that these data are under-reported and are restricted to workers who were able to receive health-related benefits, the findings reveal that avoidable health problems have a major impact on productivity and on the budget of the National Social Security Institute, thereby reinforcing the need for their prevention. KEYWORDS

Foi estudada a ocorrência de acidente de trabalho em profissionais de saúde no período de 2002/2003 e a influência das medidas de biossegurança e aceitação de quimioprofilaxia frente ao risco de transmissão ocupacional do HIV. Avaliou-se 570 profissionais de saúde de seis hospitais públicos, selecionados aleatoriamente, do conjunto de hospitais do Distrito Federal, Brasil. Esses profissionais foram questionados quanto ao conhecimento sobre biossegurança, ocorrência de acidente de trabalho, aceitação da quimioprofilaxia e teste sorológico anti-HIV. Entre os profissionais avaliados, o coeficiente de acidentabilidade foi de 39,1 e mostrou-se inversamente proporcional ao porte do hospital. Dentistas, médicos e técnicos de laboratório acidentaram-se mais, em contrapartida aos farmacêuticos e enfermeiros. As situações relacionadas ao acidente de trabalho com maior aceitação e adesão ao uso da quimioprofilaxia foram sorologia positiva e carga viral intensa do paciente-fonte (99,6-99,0%), em contraposição à sorologia negativa do paciente-fonte e acidente de pequena proporção (36,8-55,6%). O conhecimento dos profissionais de saúde sobre o conceito e as normas de biossegurança, a disponibilidade destas na unidade de trabalho e a realização de treinamento em biossegurança não influenciaram positivamente no coeficiente de acidentabilidade de trabalho.

The incidence of sickness benefits is higher among female and older workers. Economic activities show great variability of sickness benefit rates, work-relatedness, diagnostic categories, and gender.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of disability benefits due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) granted to Brazilian private sector workers.MethodsThis was a population-based epidemiological study of MSD-related benefits among registered private sector workers (n=32 959 329). The prevalence (benefits/10 000 workers/year) of work disability benefits was calculated by gender, age, state, Human Development Index (HDI), economic activity, MSD type and work-relatedness.ResultsThe prevalence of MSD-related benefits in Brazil among registered private sector workers in 2008 was 93.6/10 000 workers. The prevalence increased with age, and was higher for women (112.2) than for men (88.1), although the former had shorter benefit duration. The gender-adjusted prevalence by state varied from 16.6 to 90.3 for non-work-related, and from 7.8 to 59.6 for work-related benefits. The Brazilian states with a high–very high HDI had the highest prevalence. The top four most common types of MSD-related benefits were due to back pain, intervertebral disc disorders, sinovitis/tenosynovitis and shoulder disorders.ConclusionMSD is a frequent cause of work disability in Brazil. There were differences in prevalence among economic activities and between states grouped by HDI. This study demonstrates that further evaluation of the contributing factors associated with MSD-related disability benefits is required. Factors that should be considered include production processes, political organisation, socioeconomic and educational characteristics, the compensation and recording systems, and employee–employer power relationships. These factors may play an important role in the prevalence of MSD-related disability benefits, especially in countries with large socioeconomic iniquities such as Brazil.