Introduction/framework/objectives

Informal work has become more prevalent, simultaneously in more and less developed countries, although with very different characteristics, but with particularities capable of modulating in a concrete and relevant way some aspects of Occupational Health and Safety. The aim of this review was to provide professionals working in this area with some knowledge that would allow them to boost their performance and to be able to further expand the range of workers covered.

Methodology

This is a Bibliographic Review, initiated through a search carried out in May 2023 in the databases “CINALH plus with full text, Medline with full text, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Methodology Register, Nursing and Allied Health Collection: comprehensive, MedicLatina and RCAAP”.

Content

The term was created between the 1960s and 1970s, by the International Labor Organization, when preparing a report on Kenya and Ghana, when describing poor individuals, with unregistered, recognized, protected or regulated work. In other words, it is the set of activities that generate some income, but are not official; therefore, these are not regulated, nor do individuals have social security protection.

Thus, it is associated with companies/family ownership, own resources, small-scale production, unofficial training and non-state regulation.

Discussion and Conclusions

It both includes extremely well-paid jobs with a lot of autonomy, health and safety in terms of occupational risks; as situations that fall into exactly the opposite, increasing medical problems and accidents at work, in addition to influencing the state economy and other conditions of formal workers. If professionals working in Occupational Health and Safety teams are more aware of these data, they will be better able to cover more workers in their networks, as well as globally improve Health and Safety, working conditions and the standard of living of population.

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