This article aims to characterize the conditions and work organization of the necrotomists from Forensic Medicine Department (DMF) of a Brazilian Northeastern city. From a theoretical standpoint, the Psychodynamics of work was the main approach used, alongside the concept of the dirty work. The methodology sought to combine individual semi-structured interviews and observations in the necropsy room. The study included six necrotomists that currently make up the cadre of that DMF, being all male, aged between 32 and 48 years and service time ranging from four to 23 years. It was found that the actual organization of work is marked by the existence of some common rules, built in the exercise of activity. Also noteworthy is the precariousness of working conditions, which represents a state investment incompatible with the demands of this organ. These conditions, combined with a negative social representation of the necrotomists’ work, which situates the list of those activities coined dirty, disgusting, degrading work, produce additional suffering, requiring these workers, in addition to physical exertion proper of this activity costly defensive strategies and individual and collective psychic maneuvers to avoid slipping on the grounds of mental illness.
Work organization; working conditions; organizational psychology