Occupational Health and Safety: the last phase of eSocial can produce high penalties

Companies in Group 1, that are entering the last phase in July, should rely on services of OHS specialists to transmit data to eSocial to avoid summons.

As already mentioned in the article about the last phase of eSocial for companies in Group 1 (earning revenues greater than BRL 78 million in 2016), it is important to have attention to the schedule and advance the requirements of this phase, which are the Occupational Health and Safety data. At this stage, it is necessary to rely on the support of specialized OHS consultancies in order to minimize errors and possible summons and guarantee transmission on time.

Non-compliance with the schedule is not the only way to pay for penalties or charges in eSocial. Due to the speed of data crossing, the search for misinformation that may lead to penalties has become quicker. Such penalties are not light.

In addition to the reports, which have already been mentioned in an article, other issues must also be observed. At this phase, it is very important companies have in line the data of Occupational Health, Occupational Safety, and Personnel Management systems in order to avoid misinformation.

Medical exams and other certificates to be submitted

With eSocial, companies had to map and reorganize the internal Personal Department tasks in order to redouble their attention with management of benefits, payroll calculations, vacations, among other items.

In the context of OSH, attention was focused on records of work accident, environmental risk factors and the specificities of the services regarding the dangerousness and insalubrity, for example, mainly the care with the transmission of this information that need to be in compliance.

For example, in the situation of a workplace accident leave, the Company's Personnel Department should report it at event S-2230. This information must be in line with the data sent by the company responsible for the medical exam in event S-2210, which reports the leave.

In the case of the last phase of eSocial, six other events gather the information for transmission. They are:

Event S-1060 - Work Environments Table: the risk factors of the environments where the workers are exposed are informed in it.

Event S-2210 - Communication of Accident of Work: they possible accidents of work occurred in the environment, even if the worker is not removed by this are informed.

Event S-2020 - Monitoring Worker Health: employee health data during the employment relationship are detailed. Information about the Occupational Health Certificate (Atestado de Saúde Ocupacional - “ASO”) and other complementary exams should be presented according to the environment risk to which the worker is exposed, in addition to the data of the doctor who attended the employee. Exams attesting the return to work after thirty-day leave due to illness or accident at work or not, and periodic exams of patients with chronic diseases should also be reported.

Event S-2240 - Environmental Conditions of Work - Risk Factors: in this event the working environment conditions are stated, indicating if that environment is unhealthy, dangerous or falls in the "special" category, according to Table 28.

Event S-2245 - Training, Qualification, Simulated Exercises and Other Notes on Occupational Health and Safety.

Event S-2221 - Toxicological Exams of Professional Driver: Companies that have professional drivers as employees for the transportation of cargo and passengers by road must report toxicological tests to eSocial. (This is not exclusive SST event, but it is to establish the beginning of the requirement and phasing).

Penalties in the Occupational Health and Safety

Companies of any size are subject to situations in eSocial that may raise penalties. Therefore, being in line with both Personnel Management systems and in Occupational Medicine and Occupational Safety data is a premise.

For example, the employee moved to other department in the company and has new position and now he is exposed to new risks. In this case, the ASO must be updated before he or she change the function. If the Personnel Department reports the event of change of position and the company responsible for the SST does not update the ASO, the company has a risk of being summoned for non-compliance.

Find below the penalties situations and maximum penalties values in eSocial specifically related to the last phase, which frames the SST events:

In order to check the full eSocial penalties and charges table, click here.

Beginning of OHS data transmission to the other groups

All groups should be prepared in advance to avoid errors and delays. The deadlines to the other groups are:

• Group 1 (earning annual revenues in 2016 over than BRL 78 thousands): July / 2019

• Group 2 (earning annual revenues in 2016 of up to BRL 78 thousands): January / 2020

• Group 3 (individual employer, opting for Simples Nacional, individual rural producer and non-profit organization): July / 2020

• Group 4 (Public and international agencies): January / 2021

Do not leave it to the last minute!

The details are minimal, but very important in this final phase of adapting the companies to eSocial.

Filing the Occupational Health and Safety data requires double attention to avoid errors. By centralizing and crosschecking this information, the inspection has gained agility, which allows the mismatch of the data to be quickly identified and, with this, the application of the penalty as well.

Reports such as those aforementioned take time to be prepared, depending on the complexity of the operation. This is one more reason for all groups to have attention to the schedule and to the internal alignment needs of the OHS information flow.

Therefore, it is very important that the company hire a specialized consultancy that is responsible for the collection, organization, and transmission of data to the eSocial. In addition, the earlier the company gets organized with the information, the more time it will have to avoid such misunderstandings.