Informal jobs and non-fatal occupational injuries.
OBJECTIVE
In Brazil, workers without a formal job contract represent approximately half of the labor force but there are no official statistics on occupational injuries for them. This study estimates the annual incidence of non-fatal work-related injuries for workers with and without job contracts and examines gender differences.


METHODS
This is a community-based study carried out with a random cluster area sample of the residents of Salvador, a city with 2.7 million inhabitants, the capital of the state of Bahia, northeast Brazil. Individuals from 18 to 65 years of age who reported having a paid job comprise the study population (n=2907). Data were obtained in individual household interviews with questionnaires applied by trained field workers.


RESULTS
The overall estimated annual incidence rate (IR) was 5.6/100 full-time equivalent workers (FTE). The incidence of injuries differed between workers with informal (IR=6.2/100 FTE) and formal jobs (IR=5.1/100 FTE), and according to gender (IR=5.8/100 FTE for female and 5.5/100 FTE for male), but these differences were not statistically significant. Statistically significant positive associations between informal jobs and non-fatal work injuries were observed among women with medium education [incident rate ratio (IRR) 2.02, 95% CI 1.00-4.00] and women with black skin (IRR 1.71, 95% CI 0.99-2.97) who perceived a job as dangerous (IRR 2.00; 95% CI 1.09-3.64) or who had no occupational training (IRR 2.08; 95% CI 1.05-4.20).


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that non-fatal work injuries are a common health problem among adults in urban Brazil, regardless of the type of job contract or gender, which points to a need to improve workers' health and safety programs for formal and informal hired workers.
Program of Environmental and Workers' Health, Institute of Collective Health, Federal University of Bahia, Rua Padre Feijó 29, 4 degrees Andar, 40110-170 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. vilma@ufba.br
Vilma S
VS
Santana
Dana
D
Loomis
D000062:Accidents, Occupational; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged