Percepção cultural de risco e o uso de equipamentos de proteção individual por trabalhadores rurais expostos a agrotóxicos

Abstract

From the incentive in agriculture to increase agricultural production, the use of pesticides was intensified. Faced with this new configuration, the rural worker is daily exposed to the risks arising from the handling of these products. In this sense, adherence to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is essential to minimize the risks to the health of rural workers. Thus, this study addresses the use of PPE by rural workers exposed to pesticides and how these workers perceive and respond to the risks involved in their work process. Given this, the following research question arises: how the cultural perception of risk 2 can explain adherence to use of PPE by rural workers exposed to pesticides in a community in a municipality in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Sul? The study aims to analyze how the cultural perception of risk can explain the adherence to the use of PPE by rural workers exposed to the use of pesticides. And, as specific objectives: to characterize the sociodemographic and labor profile of rural workers; recognize the dominant way of life of the studied social group according to the Grid Group typology and the assumptions of Cultural Theory (CT); recognize the cultural perception of risk of rural workers in the work environment; understand how adherence to the use of PPE in the management and application of pesticides is presented according to the dominant way of life. To achieve the listed objectives, the qualitative method was chosen, anchored in the theoretical framework of CT and the Grid Group typology. The study was carried out in a rural district of a municipality located in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. The study complied with all ethical and legal determinations provided for in Resolution No. 466 of December 2012 of the National Health Council. Twenty rural workers, residents in the district, participated in the research. Data collection was carried out through the techniques of systematic non-participant observation and semi-structured interview. The data were analyzed through content analysis in the thematic modality, having as a guiding axis the CT and the typology Grid Group. The results were organized into four thematic categories, namely: the first category presented work in agriculture as cultural heritage, while the second category presented the Grid Group analysis and the dominant way of life. In this category, the dominant way of life in the studied social context was recognized as individualist, thus representing a departure from both the Grid and the Group. The third category presented the cultural perception of risk of rural workers. In this category, participants recognized economic risks as risks present in the work environment, that is, the fear that participants have of not being able to produce at a commercial level. The work environment was considered hostile, dangerous and unstable. Finally, the fourth category showed adherence to the use of PPE in the handling and application of pesticides by rural workers. This category revealed that the study participants perceive and recognize the need to use PPE, as well as have their availability. However, this is not enough for adhesion to occur. The cultural perception of risk can explain and understand, through CT, via the individualistic way of life, how the adherence to the use of PPE by rural workers exposed to pesticides is presented. Therefore, it is concluded that the cultural perception of risk of the study participants is focused on risks that threaten the system as a whole, such as economic risk, and not on risks that refer to the distant future, such as dermal and respiratory exposure caused by inadequate adherence to PPE.