Healthy Industry - a comprehensive OHS program

Introduction: Upon a comprehensive approach of the work activity, promoting Healthy Work Environments, intervention actions in four lines of action are organized aiming at providing the entrepreneur and the worker, with information, surveys about the working conditions and monitoring of the workers´ health, contributing to productivity and quality of life at work.    

Methods: On the access to knowledge line of action, educative material, e-courses, seminars, are formulated, with no costs to enterprises, providing information. The diagnosis axis carries out, for free, surveys about health conditions, generating reports aiming at promoting health and prioritizing investments. In the field of services, Model of Integrated Attention in Occupational Safety and Health is adopted, including environment assessments, identifying hazards and  assessing risks that may cause harm to workers´ health; monitoring their health, occupational and general, including psychosocial aspects, adopting protocols such as Audit, SRQ20, and specific exams for the identification of RSI/MSDs, two out of three major causes of work leaves in the Brazilian industry (Santana and Santana, 2010). Oral health, occupational and general, is also assessed. In the advisory and consultancy field, based on the data obtained through the diagnosis and the services, plans of action are introduced to enterprises, involving educative actions, access to health services and corrections in the work environment.    

Results: increase on the number of enterprises searching SESI´s actions, in 2010, 4,713 enterprises and in 2011, until May, 2,567, contributing to the decrease on the number of accidents by 9.7% from 2008 to 2009 (339,432 cases to 309,313, respectively)    

Discussion: The increase on the number of enterprises that search for more integrated services, in OHS, and the decrease on the number of accidents at work, demonstrate that actions developed by SESI, in an integrated manner, have contributed to the improvement of the working conditions setting in Brazil.