Brasília, September 22, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Ministry of Social Security wants to provide incentives to reduce the number of workplace accidents in the country, through the introduction of flexibility in the rates paid by firms in their contributions to finance work accident security and special retirement plans. The rates, which currently stand at 1% to 3% of firm payrolls, according to the branch of activity, might be reduced as much as 50% in companies that managed to reduce the indexes of workplace accidents. The counterpart to this "carrot" would be a "stick," as much as doubling the percentage, according to the frequency, gravity, and cost of the accidents.

"This is a way to reward the companies that adopt programs to prevent work-related accidents," affirmed the secretary of Social Security of the Ministry of Social Security, Helmut Schwarzer, in an interview with the Social Security News Agency on Friday.

He explained that, historically, the Work Accidents Insurance (SAT) has always had a bias in favor of paying compensation and has never stimulated accident prevention. "The fact that benefits are paid following the occurrence of an accident at work does not provide incentives for the employer, not even for efforts to be made to rehabilitate the accident victim and prepare him (her) to return to activity. This is a bias that, in our view, is totally erroneous. The SAT needs to play a positive role in accident prevention," he said.

In 2002, Social Security collected R$ 4.64 billion for the SAT and spent R$ 2.98 billion on accident benefits, generating a surplus of R$ 1.66 billion. This surplus helped pay for other social security benefits. (DAS)