To celebrate the National Day for Workplace Accident Prevention, Fiotec held a lecture on Workplace Accidents: legislation and prevention, conducted by the institution's Safety at Work engineer, Guilherme Garcia. The meeting brought together, for the first time, professionals from Fiotec's administration and the employees who work on the supported projects. The date was instituted in 1972 after the regulation of technical training in Occupational Safety and Medicine, and has become a hallmark of the workers' struggle for improvements in working conditions.

After presenting the history of work-related accident legislation and what updates have occurred over the years, Guilherme talked about the differences between risk and danger, and how these concepts are directly related to accident prevention issue. According to the professional, the risk is the individual action that presents itself more or less intensely, according to the exposure. In turn, a hazard is a condition with the potential to cause harm. From there, it is possible to define which conditions apply to an accident at work.

When defining the occupational disease concept, Garcia divided it into two main strands: occupational disease and work-related disease. The occupational disease stems from the exercise of peculiar work, while the occupational disease is triggered by special conditions under which the work is performed. In order for these to be categorized, it is necessary to establish the causal link and make the accident analysis report, indicating the pre- and post-illness conditions, which suggests the protective measures adequacy.

He explained that, according to Brazilian law, degenerative diseases, those inherent to the age group, those that do not produce labor incapacity, and endemic diseases are not considered occupational diseases. In addition to these concepts, Guilherme presented the ABNT (acronym in portuguese) regulation on withdrawals.

About Covid-19, it will not qualify as an occupational disease, but an occupational disease. This is because it is acquired or triggered as special conditions result in which the work is performed and directly related to it.

Guilherme explained that, according to research, every 15 seconds a worker dies from a work-related accident or disease. Between 2002 and 2020, more than 21,460 professionals were killed due to lack of working conditions, being six deaths for every 100,000 formal employees. "It is important to be aware that accidents at work affect everyone, even the family", he said.

In the occasion, the spectators could ask questions about the theme, some related to telework, but as Guilherme informed, there is still no specific legislation about this modality. The members of the SEMST (acronym in portuguese), which monitors the occupational health of the institution's employees and provides support to the hospital centers and other Fiocruz units, through representatives, were also introduced. The core was designed to provide support and guidance according to the Foundation's demands.

Fiotec's executive director, Hayne Felipe, said that, although the support foundation's employees are not in laboratories, "it's important not to get into the maxim that 'this doesn't happen to me'. "We are living a difficult situation. Despite the contingency plan, it was not possible to know the situation we were going to face. We must always keep in mind that our concern is with life and with the human being", he concludes.