Absenteeism-disease in sanitation workers: what the official records say

Abstract

Introduction. In Brazil, there is great concern about absenteeism in many productive sectors. Aim. To determine the absenteeism-disease profile of sanitation workers in a higher education institution. Methods. Descriptive and retrospective study. Collected data of the Environmental Risk Prevention Program (PPRA), from 196 medical records of 2,880 medical certificates of absenteeism and illness statistics referring to 486 workers between 2010-14. Data were analyzed by the SPSS Statistics 20.0 software. Results. There was a predominance of female (92.9%), low education (51.5%) and average group between 31-45 years (46%). Absenteeism and illness were related to the Chapter Z of ICD-10 (57,5%) that corresponds to the Factors Influencing Health Status and Contact with Health Services. The risks identified by the PPRA for cleaning workers were physical, chemical and ergonomic. Conclusion. The profile of absenteeism-disease obtained showed the osteo-muscular and connective tissue diseases as the main ones related to absences from work with medical diagnosis.