O Brazil records, on average, one work accident in electrical installations every four hours, show data mapped by Canal Solar based on platform information SmartLab, from the Occupational Safety and Health Observatory.
According to the institution’s most recent data, in ten years – between 2012 and 2022 - little more than 22,7 thousand workers suffered some kind of accident in electrical installations. Of this amount, 220 incidents ended in deaths.
In the solar energy sector that index is still low se compared to other professionals, such as conventional electricians and construction workers, who lead the occupations with the highest number of accidents.
This happens because the photovoltaic source has recently started to gain popularity among Brazilians, when there was a greater demand for installations in all regions of the country.
Second data of ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency), only in distributed micro and minigeneration segment there was a growth exceeding twelve times compared to four years ago: from 181 thousand systems installed in January 2020 to more than 2,3 million connections in the same month of 2024.
However, when the cut is made taking into account only the year 2022, professionals in the solar energy sector has the second highest number of deaths in electrical installations, with three confirmed deaths.
This is the the same number of deaths caused by professionals working on high and low voltage electrical lines, second only to the four deaths of professionals who work on a day-to-day basis with day-to-day electrician services, such as maintenance of electrical panels and the like.
It is worth remembering that numbers presented, as in any study or survey, always end up suffering from problems of subnotifications, often not registered by the injured professionals themselves or by the contracting companies themselves.
Regulatory norms
Os numbers of accidents and deaths in the electrical sector as a whole only highlight the importance of regulatory standards in guaranteeing the health and physical integrity of workers, as provided, for example, in:
- NR-6: INDIVIDUAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT – PPE;
- NR-10: SAFETY IN ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS AND SERVICES;
- NR-12: WORK SAFETY ON MACHINES AND EQUIPMENT;
- NR-18: OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY;
- NR 33: SAFETY AND HEALTH WORKING IN CONFINED SPACES;
- NR-35: WORK AT HEIGHT.
Vitor Gomes Barravieira, occupational safety engineer and project specialist, highlights that compliance with the standards referred to above, as well as the buying Individual Protection Equipment (personal protective equipment) and technical capacitation of professionals, should be seen as a investment by companies.
“If the physical integrity of those involved were not enough, which, in itself, would already justify the extreme importance of worker safety, work accidents can still result in costly expenses with compensation and labor lawsuits, in civil and even criminal spheres, depending on the outcome of the expert analyses,” he said.
The engineer emphasizes that it is important that the employers offer to your employees suitable equipment for each type of work or installation, as there is a variety of PPE, such as glasses and gloves, for each type of occasion.
In manufacturing industries, for example, there is a lot of noise being produced. In this sense, the electrical installer, in addition to using all equipment inherent to the function, must also use ear protectors to minimize sound noise.
In facilities that have a large amount of particles suspended in the air, such as those close to quarries and ceramic industries, the use of masks, such as PFF2 or similar, is more than necessary.
Furthermore, the engineer considers it important that the companies pay attention to the quality of the equipment purchased for your employees for protection reasons and also for ergonomic reasons.
“There are, for example, several types of helmets on the market and prices can vary by more than 400%. The cheapest ones tend to be of lower quality and do not have adjustment options. If equipment like this is provided, there is a chance that employees will take off their helmets during an installation,” he commented.
In addition to quality, Barraviera also draws attention to the Companies pay attention to the expiration date of equipment, which over time need to be discarded and replaced so as not to lose their effectiveness.
Individual responsibility
On the other hand, Barraviera highlights that, in addition to companies doing their part, There is also the responsibility of each worker to carry out training on regulatory standards diligently, in order to take care of their protective equipment and maintain appropriate conduct in the facilities.
“PPE exists to be used and to protect professionals, in order to allow them to return to their homes and their families at the end of their shift. They are not made so that those in charge and/or supervisory bodies can only certify their proper use,” she said.
“Unfortunately, it is still common to find, for example, workers without helmets or with flame-retardant shirts open, on the grounds of strong heat, which could lead to serious accidents and burns,” he concluded.
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