[Three years of work-related accidents in a metallurgic plant: ways to its understanding].

The objective of this study is to describe, by quantitative and qualitative methods, industrial accidents occurred during three years in a metallurgic plant in the rural area to understand the possible causes. It is a case study in a metallurgic plant where 336 accidents were studied in a 3-year period by means of three procedures: analysis of accidents' registers, interviews with 166 hurt workers, and the organization of Focal Groups (111 workers) for discussion. The ratio of yearly incidence of accidents was 16.9%; 75 cases required more than 15 out-of-work days; 51.2% occurred in the morning and affected boilermakers (48.2%). Among the interviewed workers, average schooling was 8.8 years, age ranged from 31-50 years (55.4%), 64.5% of workers had already suffered more than one accident. Besides, workers exposed to intense noise (+ 90 dBA) were the most affected (53%). In the focal groups, perceptions and feelings of workers regarding the accidents were identified that had not appeared in the previous stages. It can be concluded that focal groups allow for a better identification of factors that may contribute for accidents such as performance pressures, extra-hours of work, low wages, and precarious conditions of work and work organization.