After a discussion on the legal means recently adopted in Brazil aiming at the control of occupational accidents, the distribution of the latter according to the size of the organizations was studied. 6,310 serious occupational injuries which took place in the City of São Paulo between 1969 and 1974 were studied and distributed in "small" (up to 100 employees), "medium" (from 100 to 499J and "large" (500 and more) industries. The "small" group is further subdivided into five strata: 1 to 4, 5 to 9, 10 to 19, 20 to 49 and 50 to 99 employees. The ratio of the number of accidents over the number of employees in each stratum shows that the risk in small industries, as compared to others, is 3.77 times higher, than that which is observed in large industries and 1.96 times the risk in the medium ones. The latter show a risk 1.92 higher than the former. Detailed comments on these results are followed by a policy recommendation for the prevention of occupational accidents in small industries, through the establishment of an Inter-Undertaking Health Service (administered by non-profit organizations) and the incorporation of technical aspects of occupational hygiene and safety in government loan plans for small industries in Brazil.
Accidents, industrial; Industries, small; Occupational health; Accidents occupational