A critical overview of work‐related injury and illness in aquaculture workers from Brazil

Abstract

This review outlines the available data on aquaculture injuries and diseases in Brazil along with the deficiencies in some official data. The information was obtained from the official statistical sources of Brazil, and in part, complemented by some of the few scientific studies in the area. Between 2013 and 2017, the number of injuries and work diseases in Brazilian aquaculture totalled 873 cases. The total injury claims between 2015 and 2017 were 477 cases, of which 31 are related to requests for medical aid; 345 work leave cases for less than 15 days and 96 cases for more than 15 days; and 4 fatal injuries. However, official statistical data for aquaculture may be underreporting, limited and fragmented, and the real picture may be even larger. Nevertheless, the available data provide a means to prioritize both ways of improving such statistics and, more importantly, to identify tentatively those diseases and injuries that require urgent preventative action. Also, this paper proposes some measures that may help to achieve further progress on the working conditions to reduce potential dangers.

Humanizing aquaculture development: Putting social and human concerns at the center of future aquaculture development

“…In the aquaculture sector, they are neglected in most countries and at a global level. This is resulting in a high incidence of work‐related injury, disease, and sadly, fatalities for workers in all segments of the sector (Cavalli, Jeebhay, et al, 2019; Cavalli, Watterson, & Marques, 2019; Fröcklin et al, 2012; Fry et al, 2019; Holmen & Thorvaldsen, 2018; Kaustell et al, 2019; Mitchell & Lystad, 2019; Ngajilo & Jeebhay, 2019). The high rate of injury, fatality, and occupational disease in the sector stems from a combination of the vulnerability of many aquaculture workers and poorly controlled multiple hazards such as exposure to physical, biological, chemical, or ergonomic and safety hazards (e.g.…”

Overview of Brazilian aquaculture production

“…Particularly important will be promoting decent work that includes dignity, equality, fair income and safe work conditions in aquaculture (Cavalli et al., 2019). In order to prevent injuries and ill‐health cases, an important action is investment in prevention as well as application of the hierarchy of controls in work activities (Cavalli et al., 2019b).…”

Alabalık Yetiştiricilik Tesislerinde İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Risk Analizi

“…In the United States, the non-fatal occupational injury rate for inland aquaculture in 2006 was reported as 6.8 injuries per 100 full-time employees (Cole et al, 2009;Myers, 2011). In Brazil, a total of 873 people were injured or had occupational diseases between 2013-2017 (Cavalli et al, 2020). Job design, physical, chemical, biological and psychosocial hazards cause most of the possible accidents in the aquaculture industry (Moreau and Neis, 2009).…”