PPRA as a Management Tool

In the 1970s, Brazil recorded alarming figures regarding workplace accidents. With the aim of promoting a national culture of prevention, Law No. 6514, dated 1977, inserted Chapter V of Title II into the Consolidation of Labour Laws, relating to occupational safety and medicine, creating the necessary legal basis for the approval of twenty-eight Regulatory Standards (NRs) the following year. Among these is NR 9, a standard that revolutionised the concept of prevention in Brazil. In its terms, this standard deals with the Environmental Risk Prevention Programme (PPRA), providing guidelines for the creation of a management system dedicated to Occupational Safety and Health. In this study, we investigated, using a methodology based on a review of the literature, the quality of the PPRA currently implemented in companies operating in Brazil, with the aim of evaluating the programme's effectiveness in preventing accidents. It was found that, for various reasons, the PPRA is poorly designed and incorrectly implemented in the vast majority of companies. It was concluded that the PPRA, if designed and implemented in accordance with NR 9, is an effective tool.