Sanitation Work on the North Coast of Rio Grande do Sul and Personal Protective Equipment From the Perspective of Expert Reports

Introduction: Sanitation work requires the combination of collective protection strategies and in view of actions at different points at different times, individual protection gains outstanding importance. Objective: This article aims to verify the distribution, registration, training and use of personal protective equipment in a sanitation company and the resulting expert reports of labor lawsuits in a two-year interval. Methodology: The work was carried out in a company that has about 5,500 employees in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, being distributed by regions, including the north coast, with approximately 400 employees. The study was carried out on the qualitative documentary analysis of 10 labor complaints in this region. Results: It was possible to verify that all claimants received and used personal protective equipment, proving the delivery of PPE to all claimants, but the company provided only 17% of claimants with equipment appropriate to the biological risk, in only 13% of the cases analyzed, the number of the Certificate of Approval (CA) was included in the delivery forms. Regarding personal protective equipment, in most cases the experts failed to observe the provision of the standard, so the information was not included in the reports. Conclusion: Through the reports, it was possible to identify that the company provided and proved the supply of PPE, in addition to the confirmation by the plaintiffs that they actually used the equipment. There are flaws in expert records on such aspects when considering the specific regulatory rule.