Human work is an important means of social insertion, implied in the formation of the identity and social acknowledgement. In the case of a fatal work accident, the family suffers the impacts of that phenomenon in its organization and dynamic. The work aimed at investigating the perception of a fatal work accident for the family of a victim in the south of Espírito Santo, whose analysis was based on the following themes: the working conditions of the one who had the accident, the psychosocial impacts created by the work accident and the changes in the familial dynamic due to such occurrence. Three members of the victim’s family and his/her employer were interviewed. Data were analyzed according to the qualitative criteria of the semiotic phenomenology. Results indicate a paradox in the victim’s family and in the employer’s perception of the accident: while its repercussion for the family is based on the social importance of work, for the employer, it is associated to the company’s defense and its responsibility regarding the death held at work.
Work accidents; Death; Perception; Psychosocial factors