OBJECTIVES: to analyze work accidents involving exposure to biological materials which took place among personnel working in nursing and to evaluate the influence of the organizational culture on the occurrence of these accidents. METHOD: a retrospective, analytical study, carried out in two stages in a hospital that was part of the Network for the Prevention of Work Accidents. The first stage involved the analysis of the characteristics of the work accidents involving exposure to biological materials as recorded over a seven-year period by the nursing staff in the hospital studied, and registered in the Network databank. The second stage involved the analysis of 122 nursing staff members' perception of the institutional culture, who were allocated to the control group (workers who had not had an accident) and the case group (workers who had had an accident). RESULTS: 386 accidents had been recorded: percutaneous lesions occurred in 79% of the cases, needles were the materials involved in 69.7% of the accidents, and in 81.9% of the accident there was contact with blood. Regarding the influence of the organizational culture on the occurrence of accidents, the results obtained through the analysis of the two groups did not demonstrate significant differences between the average scores attributed by the workers in each organizational value or practice category. It is concluded that accidents involving exposure to biological material need to be avoided, however, it was not possible to confirm the influence of organizational values or practices on workers' behavior concerning the occurrence of these accidents.
Work Accidents; Occupational Hazards; Organizational Culture; Nursing