Paloma da Silva Aguiar
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
According to the Online Portuguese Dictionary, the Profissiográfico Previdenciário Profile – PPP is an “Individual document of the worker that is intended to provide information to the INSS, regarding work activities¹” .
This document only became compulsory on January 1, 2004, and its main purpose is to provide information about a worker’s environmental working conditions, especially if the worker wants to apply for the Special Retirement benefit from the competent body, the National Social Security Institute (INSS).
The Profissiographic Social Security Profile was created to replace various old forms, which were called as follows: DIRBEN 8030, DISES BE 5235, SB 40 and DSS 8030, which in turn were also mandatory at the time, precisely for those workers who were exposed to harmful health agents.
The company or company-like entity is obliged to provide the worker with this document whenever there is exposure to harmful chemical, biological and physical agents, or any other agents that are harmful to the worker’s health or physical integrity.
It is important to note at this point that micro and small companies are not exempt from drawing up, updating and delivering this document to the worker.
The responsibility for issuing, updating and delivering this Social Security Profile lies with the following:
– Employing company, when the employee is observed;
– Work Cooperative or Production Cooperative, when the duly affiliated cooperative member is observed;
– Workforce Management Body – OGMO, when observing the temporary port worker;
– Trade Union of the Category, when the individual worker is observed, but is not a port worker.
Updating this document is just as important as issuing and delivering it, since it will portray the reality of the environmental working conditions faced by workers on a day-to-day basis.
Therefore, the Occupational Health and Safety Profile must be updated whenever there is a change in agents, or when the worker’s job changes, which implies new exposures.
And, of course, if there are no changes to be highlighted in the Social Security Profile, this document must still be updated at least once a year, thus avoiding any forgotten changes that could harm the worker in the future, for example, when applying for social security benefits from the INSS.
It is important to highlight the text of paragraph 8 of article 148, set out in INSS/DC Normative Instruction no. 99, of December 5, 2003, which was duly amended by INSS/DC Normative Instruction no. 111, of September 30, 2004, which stipulates exactly in which situations a Social Security Profile should be issued.
§ Paragraph 8 – The PPP will be printed in the following situations:
I – upon termination of the employment contract or disaffiliation from the cooperative, union or OGMO, in two copies, with one copy being provided to the worker upon receipt;
II – for the purposes of applying for recognition of periods worked under special conditions;
III – for the purposes of analyzing disability benefits, as of January 1, 2004, when requested by the INSS;
IV – for simple checking by the worker, at least once a year, during the annual global assessment of the Environmental Risk Prevention Program – PPRA, until the PPP is implemented on magnetic media by Social Security;
V – when requested by the competent authorities.
Furthermore, it is up to the company’s legal representative to sign the document, as long as they can demonstrate that they have specific powers of attorney to do so, in addition to indicating which qualified technicians were responsible for the information contained therein, which in turn must specify exactly which agents were harmful to health in the workplace and the period of exposure.
These rules are mandatory in article 58 and its paragraphs of Law No. 8,213/1991².
And at what point should the Social Security Profile be given to the worker?
Simple. This document must be given to the worker at the time of termination of contract, or at the time of disassociation from the cooperative, whether it be a work or production cooperative, the category union or the OGMO³.
It is recommended that the delivery of this document to the worker be duly proven, precisely so that the issuer is protected from any future allegations that prove contrary to the actual delivery, i.e. the issuer has the duty to issue a separate receipt, so that the actual delivery can be proven.
The importance of preparing, updating and delivering this document to the worker must be taken into account by the issuer, precisely because not only the original Social Security Profile document, but also the receipt for the actual delivery, must be kept with the issuer for 20 (twenty) years.
If the issuer does not consider the issuance, updating and delivery of the document, with truthful information, to be an obligation, it will suffer the consequences set out in Interministerial Ordinance MPS/MF 01/2016, the Penal Code⁴ and Law No. 9,029 of April 13, 1995.
The amount due as a fine is around R$2,143.04 (two thousand, one hundred and forty-three reais and four cents).
Finally, it is worth mentioning the care that the issuer must take when advertising the document, since if the issuer of the document acts with discrimination, they will be faced with the constitution of a crime, under the terms of Law No. 9,029, of April 13, 1995.
Paragraph 13 of article 148 of INSS/DC Normative Instruction No. 99 of December 5, 2003, as amended by INSS/DC Normative Instruction No. 111 of September 30, 2004, highlights the issue:
“§ 13. The information contained in the PPP is private to the worker, and it is a crime under the terms of Law No. 9.029, of April 13, 1995, to engage in discriminatory practices arising from its demandability by others, as well as its disclosure to third parties, except when required by the competent public bodies.”
¹DICIO. Meaning of profissiographic. Available at: https://www.dicio.com.br/profissiografico/. Accessed on: July 10, 2018.
²BRASIL. Law No. 8.213, of July 24, 1991. Provides for Social Security Benefit Plans and other measures, DF, July 1991.
“Art. 58. The list of harmful chemical, physical and biological agents or association of agents harmful to health or physical integrity considered for the purposes of granting the special retirement referred to in the previous article will be defined by the Executive Power. (Redaction given by Law no. 9.528, of 1997)
§ Paragraph 1 Proof of the insured’s actual exposure to harmful agents shall be provided by means of a form, in the form established by the National Social Security Institute – INSS, issued by the company or its agent, based on a technical report on environmental working conditions issued by an occupational physician or occupational safety engineer in accordance with labor legislation. (Edited by Law no. 9732 of 11.12.98)
§ Paragraph 2 The technical report referred to in the previous paragraph must include information on the existence of collective or individual protection technology that reduces the intensity of the aggressive agent to tolerance limits and a recommendation on its adoption by the respective establishment. (Edited by Law no. 9732 of 11.12.98)
§ Paragraph 3 The company that does not keep an up-to-date technical report on the harmful agents present in its workers’ work environment or that issues a document proving actual exposure in disagreement with the respective report shall be subject to the penalty provided for in Article 133 of this Law. (Included by Law No. 9.528, of 1997)
§ Paragraph 4 The company must draw up and keep up to date an occupational profile covering the activities carried out by the worker and provide the worker with an authentic copy of this document when the employment contract is terminated. (Included by Law No. 9,528 of 1997)”
BRAZIL. Normative Instruction No. 99, of December 5, 2003. Establishes criteria to be adopted by the Benefits and Social Security Revenue areas, DF, Dec 2003.
“Paragraph 10 – Proof of delivery of the PPP, on termination of employment or disaffiliation from the cooperative, union or OGMO, may be provided in the termination or disaffiliation instrument itself, or in a separate receipt.” (Article 148 of INSS/DC Normative Instruction No. 99 of December 5, 2003, as amended by INSS/DC Normative Instruction No. 111 of September 30, 2004).
⁴BRASIL. Decreto Lei nº 2.848, de 7 de dezembro de 1940. Criminal Code, DF, Dec 1940.
“Caput”, of Article 297, of the Penal Code – Falsification of a public document: ‘Falsifying, in whole or in part, a public document, or altering a true public document: Penalty – imprisonment, from two to six years, and a fine’.
