Produção Nacional
Revisado por pares
Razões para investigar a dimensão organizacional nas origens da catástrofe industrial da Vale em Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brasil
2019; Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz; Volume: 35; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1590/0102-311x00027319
ISSN1678-4464
AutoresIldeberto Muniz de Almeida, José Marçal Jackson Filho, Rodolfo Andrade de Gouveia Vilela,
Tópico(s)Media and Communication Studies
ResumoThe collapse of the iron ore tailings dam operated by the Vale mining company on the Córrego do Feijão stream in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, was a large-scale work accident, the largest in Brazil's history 1 .The dam failure occurred just over three years after the disaster with the Fundão tailings dam operated by the Samarco company in Mariana, Minas Gerais State, which until Brumadinho was considered "one of the country's worst socioenvironmental disasters" 2 (p.6).The Brumadinho disaster caused more than 300 fatalities (counting the victims already identified and those still disappeared) and immeasurable impacts on the area's historical and cultural heritage, the environment, and the local economy 1 .Three days after the dam collapsed, when the media was focusing on the search for survivors, an attorney connected to the company gave a press interview stating the following 3 : "Under no circumstances will the board of directors give up the company's reins"."Vale sees no determining reasons for its own liability.There was no negligence, recklessness, or malpractice" [on the company's part] 3 .Although Vale representatives disallowed the attorney's remarks the same day 4 , the attorney revealed not only his own insensivity by defending other priorities, like the financial health of the company and the current board members' positions, but also went out of its way to influence the inquiry into the disaster's causes and their explanation, a key strategy used by corporations to repair their image in times of crisis 5 : "Why does a dam break?There are numerous factors, which will now be the object of considerations of a technical order" 3 .In the Samarco case, an independent investigation was hired by the mining consortium to determine the technical factors that caused the dam to collapse, overlooking the socio-organizational factors associated with the dam's failure, which are fundamental for establishing preventive measures 6 .Thus, if "Mariana was a tragedy waiting to happen" 2 (p. 2), what about Brumadinho?The aim of this article is to emphasize the need for a more consistent approach to the investigation of industrial disasters in general and specifically the Brumadinho dam failure.
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