Work, life and death regarding the sector of ornamental rocks: psychosocial effects of fatal work accidents for the families

Abstract

This study analyzed the psychosocial effects for the families of the victims of fatal work accidents occurred in the
sector of marble and granite in 2008, in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. In the exploratory research, semistructured
interviews were utilized as the means of collection of data, whose analysis followed the Method of Senses
Interpretation. Eight families, identified through the Work Accidents Communication, participated in the research.
The families’ perceptions about the work accidents were associated to the characteristics of the activity in the rock
sector, such as: work conditions unfavorable to safety, proximity between personal and professional relations and
lack of information about accidents. The fatal work accidents brought several implications for all the family
members, for instance, damage to health, behavioral changes and difficulty to deal with the break of plans. The
manners of facing death indicated that the overcoming of losses was mainly enabled by family members, friends and
religion. Most of the companies complied with all the legal obligations with promptitude. Government was
highlighted regarding the benefits granted to families of the victims; however, it was absent in the transformational
actions toward the organization of work in order to prevent accidents.