A critical overview of work‐related injury and illness in aquaculture workers from Brazil

This review outlines the available data on aquaculture injuries and diseases in Brazil along with the deficiencies in some official data. The information was obtained from the official statistical sources of Brazil, and in part, complemented by some of the few scientific studies in the area. Between 2013 and 2017, the number of injuries and work diseases in Brazilian aquaculture totalled 873 cases. The total injury claims between 2015 and 2017 were 477 cases, of which 31 are related to requests for medical aid; 345 work leave cases for less than 15 days and 96 cases for more than 15 days; and 4 fatal injuries. However, official statistical data for aquaculture may be underreporting, limited and fragmented, and the real picture may be even larger. Nevertheless, the available data provide a means to prioritize both ways of improving such statistics and, more importantly, to identify tentatively those diseases and injuries that require urgent preventative action. Also, this paper proposes some measures that may help to achieve further progress on the working conditions to reduce potential dangers.