‎Brazil News

The President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, participated, this Thursday afternoon (7), in a ceremony at the Planalto Palace, for the signing of ordinances by the Ministry of Labor and Welfare to review the Regulatory Norms (NRs) for work safety. Four NRs and four annexes from another three were revised. The NRs are a set of requirements and procedures related to occupational safety and medicine and are mandatory for private and public companies and government agencies that have employees governed by the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT).

 

The objective is the simplification, reduction of bureaucracy and harmonization of norms, without leaving aside the protection of the worker. Studies carried out by the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjam), estimate that the potential savings with the updating of regulatory rule 17 could reach R$ 10.6 billion.

 

“We won 2020 with measures taken in 2019 and we continue to work in this direction. There are still NRs that have to be cleaned up. Onix will continue to do this work”, highlighted President Jair Bolsonaro.

 

“It is very important that the inspection also know how to be someone who advises, someone who guides, someone who is there to help the employer to provide the best performance and work conditions for their employee. And this is the line we have been working on here”, said the Minister of Labor and Welfare, Onyx Lorenzoni.

 

Revised Standards

The updated standards are numbers 5, 17, 19 and 30.

 

NR 5 - Establishes the parameters and requirements of the Internal Accident Prevention Commission (CIPA) - In order to reduce labor conflicts, a definition was included on the termination of the employment contract for a fixed period, already consolidated in jurisprudence. The end of the contract, in this case, does not characterize arbitrary or unfair dismissal of the employee elected to the position of director of the CIPA.

 

NR 17 - Ergonomics rules - Brings a major update regarding the role of Ergonomic Work Analysis (AET), with two stages of assessment: a preliminary stage and a deepening stage. The preliminary stage corresponds to the “preliminary ergonomic assessment” and the deepening to the “Ergonomic Work Analysis – AET”. Before, any analysis of the job was carried out through the AET. With the new text, an attempt was made to privilege a preliminary ergonomic assessment for work situations, aiming at the adoption of prevention measures and adaptation of working conditions by all organizations. The AET, being more complex, was restricted to some hypotheses provided for in the standard.

 

NR 19 - Which provides for the requirements and preventive measures to ensure the safety and health conditions of workers at all stages of manufacturing, handling, storage and transport of explosives - One of the main innovations was the alignment with the regulations of the Army Logistics Command, which was updated in 2019, defining that hazardous areas of explosives factories must have permanent electronic monitoring, as well as the correct classification of substances when they are flammable.

 

NR 30 - Establishes requirements for the protection and safeguarding of safety and health in waterway work - took into account the filling of a regulatory gap related to risk management, with the resolution of normative conflict.

 

public consultation

The Ministry of Labor and Employment also published notices of public consultation of NR 13, referring to boilers, pressure vessels and pipes and metallic storage tanks; 33, on working in confined spaces; and 36, which concerns the slaughter and processing of meat and meat products. In addition, four annexes will also be updated: annexes I, II (which will be migrated to NR 20) and III of NR 9; and Annex III of NR 12.

 

The complete texts with all their updates, as well as the notices of Public Consultations, will be made available through the Federal Official Gazette (DOU).

 

Category

Work, Employment and Welfare