DIAGNOSIS OF WORK ACCIDENTS WITH AGRICULTURAL TRACTORS IN THE STATE OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL, BRAZIL

Abstract

The increasingly expansion of agricultural mechanization has resulted in the generation of a sector unprepared for the prevention of accidents at work, especially those that occur with agricultural tractors. As a result, news related to work accidents involving tractor operators in rural areas are seen frequently in the media, although their official quantification is difficult due to the underreporting of these accidents. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a diagnosis of work accidents with agricultural tractors in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, based on judicial cases, in order to ascertain the accidents causes, the attribution of responsibilities and the magnitude of consequences represented by the material and personal damages resulting from these cases. Through the deductive-systematic-analytical method and descriptive statistics, 60 cases of work accidents were analyzed, in the period between 2000 and 2018, which generated legal demands. It was found that 96.8% of accidents could have been avoided through prevention, removing the act and the unsafe condition in the activities. In 62% of cases, the unsafe act was the cause of accidents, and 14% resulted from the combination of the unsafe act and the unsafe condition. As for liability for the occurrence of the accident, the employer was directly or indirectly responsible in 59% of the cases, mainly for non-compliance with the rules of work safety, especially the standards NR 12 and NR 31. The operator's death occurred in 45% of the accidents analyzed, due to the overturning or fall over of the agricultural tractor. Thus, the analysis of these accidents showed that in none of them the generating event is related to the machine, but rather to human error. Moreover, only the change in the attitude of employers and employees can improve this scenario.