Our lawyer Guilherme Giovani Sabatini took part in a report on the LexLegal Brasil portal that discusses an important change in the rules that guide health and safety in the workplace in Brazil, which comes into force on 26 May.

This is an update to Regulatory Standard No. 1 (NR-1), issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MTE), which now requires companies to identify and prevent psychosocial risks. Included in this category are moral and sexual harassment, stress, work overload and other factors that impact workers’ mental health. The article points out that the movement follows a global trend and represents a significant step towards consolidating a broader and more humanised approach to occupational safety in Brazil, recognising that emotional well-being is just as important as physical well-being in guaranteeing healthy working environments.

In practice, each company will have to build its own strategy for assessing and monitoring psychosocial risks, based on its organisational reality. According to Guilherme, the Ministry of Labour is yet to release a manual with guidelines on how to apply the new NR 1.

“The expectation is that the booklet will be publicised before the effective date of the standard. However, it is important to clarify that the document will not define a universal method for conducting evaluations, requiring individualised analysis of companies,” he told the report. This means that there won’t be a pre-formatted model, but general guidelines that will serve as a guide. The interpretation of the standard will need to be put into context with each organisation’s size, sector, level of exposure to risk and profile of workers.

Check out the full article: https://lexlegal.com.br/empresas-brasileiras-terao-que-mapear-riscos-psicossociais-a-partir-de-maio/