Overload for public health management as a result of a mining disaster: observational study on the impact on workers health, from the Brumadinho case

• Grant number: 21/12362-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Paola Zucchi
• Grantee: Paola Zucchi
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Maykon Andersom Pires de Novais ; Rita de Cássia Costa da Silva

Abstract

The rupture of the ore tailings dam at the Córrego do Feijão mine, owned by mining company Vale, which took place in 2019, raised Brazil to the top of the countries with the highest number of deaths in accidents of this nature. It is the biggest human tragedy in the history of mining and the biggest work accident in the country. In this context, the field of public health management and workers' health is highlighted when considering the health-disease process in its articulation with work, taking into account that new processes and routines were imposed on professionals who maintain an employment relationship in Brumadinho, the city where the disaster occurred. This research, therefore, seeks to answer whether changes have occurred in the notifications of diseases and conditions related to the health of workers, based on the hypothesis that there was an overload in the working population, generating investigations on diseases and health conditions, especially related mental and behavioural disorders to work. Objectives: To assess the impact on notifications of health problems for workers, before and after the mining tailings dam collapsed on January 25, 2019 in the municipality of Brumadinho. Methods: An observational, descriptive and analytical, cross-sectional study will be carried out, with a quantitative approach, based on the analysis of the investigation sheets of dis-eases and conditions related to work available in the local base of the Notifiable Diseases Information System in the period from January to 2017 to December 2021. Expected results: We believe that there will be changes in the profile of notifications about work-related diseases and health conditions. The comparison between the notifications of injuries and conditions related to the health of workers in the pre- and post-disaster period will allow the identification of possible correlations with the disaster and, consequently, help managers and decision-makers in the organization of actions to prevent and promote the health of workers, as well as in the organization of the Health Care Network to deal with situations of calamity and serious accidents. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DA SILVA, RITA DE CASSIA COSTA; DE NOVAIS, MAYKON ANDERSON PIRES; ZUCCHI, PAOLA. Notifications of work-related injuries and diseases: an observational study on a mining disaster. BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, v. 23, n. 1, p. 7-pg., 2023-08-31. (21/12362-0)