ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: The present study purpose is to characterize fatal occupational accidents and analyze the quality of recorded information. METHOD: Ecological study, with descriptive analysis of deaths due to occupational accidents in the city of Uberaba, the State of Minas Gerais, and Brazil, from 1997 to 2006. The study used data from the Information System on Mortality (SIM) of the Ministry of Health and from Workers' Benefit and Compensation System (SUB) from the Ministry of Social Security and Assistance. RESULTS: The most common causes of work-related fatalities are commuting accidents and mainly involve males, aged between 25-44 years. The results showed that there is a high percentage of missing information in the records aimed at identifying the relationship between death and work accidents, reaching, during the period, the average of 82.9% in the national, 84.5% in the state and 79.6% in the municipal records. According to the criteria proposed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean, the quality of information from the SIM is very poor, which results to be a limitation for action planning in the occupational health field based in such data. CONCLUSION: For this reason, it is necessary to adopt more effective ways of recording information related to occupational fatal accidents.
occupational accidents; external causes; cause of death; occupational accidents registry; occupational health; fatal injuries
