Analysis of occupational accidents for safety design.

Background: Safety design covers proactive actions as it analyzes accident risks early in the enterprise life cycle, and considers the designer acting on accident prevention as a member of the construction team.

Objective: This paper proposes an accident investigation to establish links between accident causes and design to support Prevention through Design (PtD) tools.

Methods: This article analyzed more than a thousand severe and fatal accident cases in the construction sector.

Safety and health risks for workers exposed to cold thermal environments: A frozen food processing industry perspective.

Background: Environmental temperatures in the fresh food industry vary from 0°C to 10°C, and go below -20°C for the frozen food industry, representing risk for the health and safety of workers involved.

Objective: The aim of this work was to evaluate the cold thermal stress risks for workers working in a frozen food industry.

Methods: A total of 27 acclimatized workers (13 male and 14 female) participated in a study which was conducted during 11 working days.

Adaptation and psychometric validation of a questionnaire about organizational safety culture and climate for the Brazilian reality.

Surveys are the most widely used instruments to assess safety opinions, attitudes and behaviours of workers, as a reflection of a dimensional manifestation of an organization's safety culture. The fact that there are few instruments of this nature adapted to the Brazilian reality motivated the attempt to validate tools used in Portugal in this field. The questionnaire to workers about occupational safety culture and climate (QTCCS) will be explored in this article.

Absenteeism of people with disabilities in the construction industry in Brazil.

Background: The employment rates of people with disabilities (PWDs) are lower than the general population in many countries because of several factors, including prejudices about labour production and absenteeism of these workers.

Objective: The objective of the research was to evaluate the absenteeism of PWDs in the construction industry in the metropolitan area of Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.

Methods: Study participants were workers with disabilities that performed jobs at the work sites in the construction industry.

Workplace adaptation to people with disabilities at construction industry in Brazil.

Background: Despite the attempts to include people with disabilities at work, the number of such people seeking employment and of those receiving job opportunities remains low.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate the construction jobs of bricklayer, carpenter, steel fixer, painter, laborer 1, laborer 2 and foreman on the construction site of a water supply network so as to determine the profile of workers with disabilities who could perform these jobs and what adaptations are needed.

Methods: The methods used were: direct observation of the activities and the environment, interviews with staff on the site, and a video and photographic record of the tasks, while the software ErgoDis/IBV was used to analyze the jobs.

Quantitative noise analysis at two marble finishing plants in Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil.

In Olinda there are an estimated 50 marble quarries, 3 of which are members of the stone extraction and finishing industry's state union. The objective here is to quantitatively evaluate the noise present at the workplace in two of Olinda's unionized marble quarries. The data to be analyzed was collected during December 2010, this month representing one of the four busiest months of production.

Risk evaluation and exposure control of mineral dust containing free crystalline silica: a study case at a quarry in the Recife Metropolitan Area.

During the production of aggregates at quarry sites, elevated quantities of micro-particulate mineral dust are produced in all stages of the process. This dust contains appreciable amounts of free crystalline silica in a variety of forms which, if maintained suspended in the air in the work environment, expose the workers to the risk of developing occupational silicosis, which causes reduced ability to work and potential shortening of lifespan. This study was conducted to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate workers' exposure to mineral dust containing free crystalline silica at a midsized quarry in the Recife metropolitan area, in the State of Pernambuco.