Assessment of the Risks of Exposure to Chemical Agents in Teaching, Research and Extension Laboratories
Authors: Alves Luis Felipe Alonso , Guimarães Claudinei de Souza 
Published: February 2025

Objective: evaluate the risk profile of exposure to chemical agents in a teaching, research and extension laboratory at a Federal University located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, analyzing the applicability of health and safety legislation linked to the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) to federal public servants, from the perspective of administrative law, especially related to the granting of unhealthy work pay and the recognition of special time.

Theoretical Framework: teaching, research and extension laboratories are essential environments in the academic world, where various experiments are developed that allow/contribute to scientific development. In this topic, discussions are presented about exposure to chemical agents in these environments, the risks that the absence of legal instruments can cause in the lives of employees, as well as about the rules and guidelines related to the analysis and recognition of unhealthy work pay and special retirement.

Method: the methodology applied was the case study, in which technical documents issued by a large University located in the state of Rio de Janeiro were used. Based on the Individual Unhealthiness Reports issued by the University itself, in the period from 2018 to 2022, an analysis was made of the physical-chemical, toxicological properties and adverse health effects of these chemical agents, as well as the legal framework related to the granting of the unhealthiness premium and the recognition of the special time of the identified agents.

Results and Discussion: laboratories are environments where many employees (teachers, researchers and technicians) spend a large part of their time, where there are multiple sources of risk that can lead to unacceptable occupational exposures due to the adverse health effects that these agents can generate combined with the absence of effective and uniform actions related to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). In this sense, it was observed that despite advances in legislation applicable to federal public servants, the legal provisions on the topic of Occupational Health and Safety within the scope of the public service are scarce, late and incomplete, requiring urgent regulation.

Implications of the Research: demonstrates the lack of consensus on the applicability of labor law to employees linked to the Single Legal Regime – RJU, generating a “normative gap” related to the issue of health and safety (OSH) with serious consequences, especially in environments with numerous sources of risks such as laboratories, such as the absence of effective and uniform OHS actions, legal uncertainty, inaction on the part of Managers, as well as the absence of specific resources destined to finance the health and safety of employees.

Originality/Value: carry out a study on the harmfulness of the most prevalent chemical agents identified in the documents evaluated in laboratory environments of a large University located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, classifying them as unhealthy agents and giving rise to special retirement, as well as evaluating the applicability or not of labor rights to employees linked to the Single Legal Regime – RJU.