Vulnerabilidades de profissionais de manutenção automotiva no desenvolvimento de dermatoses ocupacionais

Abstract

The profession of Automotive Mechanic has existed since the emergence of the first automobiles, more than 100 years ago in Brazil. The activities performed by mechanical workshops expose these workers to several types of occupational risks through direct contact with chemical, physical and biological substances. This exposure increases the risks for the development of occupational dermatoses in these professionals. This study has as its object the "exposure to petroleum-derived substances and possible vulnerabilities of automotive maintenance professionals to the development of occupational dermatoses". The objective was to know how automotive maintenance professionals expose themselves to petroleum-derived substances and the possible vulnerabilities to the development of occupational dermatoses. This is an exploratory study with a qualitative approach, which had as population automotive mechanics professionals in three localized workshops named Company 1, Company 2 and Company 3, located in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, whose collection was performed after approval by the CEP, according to the Consent Opinion No. 5.327.439 and then the collection was performed both in April 2022. The qualitative analysis process followed the steps of Amedeo Giorgi's method, adapted by Viêtta and Santa Rosa with a view to understanding the phenomenon. As results, 10 auto mechanics participated in the study, all males, mostly brown, aged between 18 and 59 years, with work experience varying between 2 and 33 years of activity, all of them exposed to petroleum-derived chemicals from 2 to six hours a day. Three categories and eight thematic subcategories emerged from the interviews.It is understood that automotive maintenance professionals expose themselvesto grease,kerosene, contact cleaner, decarbonizer, diesel oil, degreaser, and gasoline, petroleum-derived substances, with daily exposure, without the use of PPE as recommended by the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), Petrobras, 2019. The vulnerabilities express conditions related to the mechanic's own actions, in the inadequate use of PPE, in the lack of hand care, with carelessness in protecting the skin of the hands after the use of substances and also of the identification of initial injuries. For the lesions, they use creams and ointments according to their colleagues' recommendations, and none of the participantssought health care professionals for skin care. We conclude that auto mechanics are a group of workers vulnerable to skin lesions such as irritation, redness, pimples, dryness, wounds on the hands, skin and between the fingers, and itching due to the inadequate use of PPE when in contactwith chemical substances in their work routine.