Company triples the number of inspectors and intensifies training and qualification program for its own third-party teams
From this month onwards, Sabesp will adopt even stricter rules than those required by Brazilian technical standards and current legislation, in order to reinforce the safety of its works and minimize the impacts of interventions on the routine of the cities in which it operates. The new action plan is divided into 3 pillars: reinforcement of engineering and safety protocols, intensification of inspection and monitoring, and expansion of the training, qualification and certification program.
Today, the Company has 1,200 work sites underway, 5 times more than before privatization in 2024, to bring water, sewage collection and treatment to places where people have never had sanitation. At the same time, it invests in water resilience and in the recovery and renewal of underground networks and old equipment, which did not receive necessary maintenance and modernization due to lack of resources. Therefore, damage and breakages occur, requiring around 18,000 repairs per month.
The increase in work fronts impacts people’s routine, such as traffic diversions, temporary changes in circulation, noise, closures and, unfortunately, accidents. “And we cannot and will not tolerate this. We are perfecting all our engineering, safety and service protocols to act in a more surgical manner. Sabesp cannot stop evolving and working to bring sanitation to everyone, but we will do this with the utmost care for the lives and well-being of employees and communities”says the company’s president, Carlos Piani.
“It became clear with the Jaguaré accident that we needed to go beyond what technical standards require, adding new layers of safety, control, prevention and monitoring of existing procedures. These new measures represent a concrete change of level in prevention, inspection and operational response”, says Piani.
INVESTMENTS TRIPLE
The number of inspectors in the field will increase from 200 to 600, a 3-fold increase. The expansion of supervision and inspection teams in works will take place based on risk and complexity criteria, especially considering works in locations with the presence of gas networks, interventions using non-destructive methods and open pits with a depth of more than two meters.
The company will also expand monitoring and control of works using artificial intelligence camera technology. Until the end of 2026, all works will be monitored 24 hours a day from a Monitoring and Control Center, which also has all records of underground networks available from both Sabesp and other concessionaires. The objective is to expand real-time monitoring capacity, identify risk situations more quickly and support decision-making by technical teams in the field.
The safety of its more than 50,000 direct and indirect employees and the communities surrounding the works is an absolute priority for Sabesp. The company continually invests in prevention, with the expansion of actions and controls on its work fronts. In 2025, the Company intensified field inspections and increased investments in accident prevention programs by 23% compared to 2024. In 2026, investment in inspection and prevention will increase by 150%.
NEW PROTOCOLS
One of the main changes will be the expansion of prior care, above what Brazilian technical standards require, in works close to gas networks. Sabesp’s new procedure expands the so-called “attention zone” used in mapping underground interferences and confirming these interferences in the field from 1 meter to 3 meters. In practice, this measure will be applied with maximum rigor in around 60 works – 5% of the 1,200 active fronts in the State – that use the directional hole method close to these networks. By expanding this pre-check range, the company makes verification more accurate before the executive project and the start of drilling, with direct visualization of the subsoil to increase safety and reduce risks.
In addition to the analysis of technical records obtained through official channels and dialogue with concessionaires to confirm existing networks, which were already done, Sabesp will expand field checks, with more surveys and opening of pits to visually confirm the position of gas networks before drilling begins. It also becomes mandatory to use georadar throughout the entire area of the attention zone and the inclusion of gas detection technology on work fronts.
Contingency plans were also strengthened, with alert systems and evacuation measures in situations with suspected gas leaks, as well as the requirement for training and periodic retraining of the teams involved in carrying out the works.
TRAININGS
The Company will also reinforce the criteria for companies and professionals who work on its projects. The training, qualification and certification program will be expanded and will become mandatory for both Sabesp employees and professionals from contracted companies. The proposal is to guarantee a higher level of technical training, with proof of competence and alignment with the operational and safety procedures adopted by the Company.
“We will not hire companies that do not meet the certification required to perform these services. This measure reinforces our zero tolerance guideline for unsafe practices and seeks to ensure that contractors work with qualified teams, trained and aligned with Sabesp’s technical and operational standards”, says the executive director of Engineering and Innovation, Roberval Tavares.
The new protocols and action plans are in addition to other Company initiatives aimed at strengthening relationships with partner companies and communities. Among them is the Partners for Impact program, which seeks to engage contracted companies in adopting good socio-environmental practices, improving risk management and reinforcing safety in operations, promoting continuous improvement in the supply chain.
Another highlight is the Safety Excellence program, aimed at ensuring compliance with activities carried out in the field by contractors, as well as compliance with legal requirements. The initiative covers all of the Company’s works, with monitoring and control of suppliers’ performance.
NEW RULES
Arsesp (Public Services Regulatory Agency of the State of São Paulo) started on May 25th an inspection task force focused on works carried out in places where there are pipes from more than one concessionaire. The action will initially last 3 months and should intensify the technical and regulatory monitoring of interventions carried out on public roads and urban areas with greater operational complexity.
Among the measures announced are the improvement of the Manual of Good Practices for Shared Works Management, the creation of a permanent technical group focused on accident prevention and the operational improvement of the procedures adopted in shared works, reinforcing the work already carried out previously.
Arsesp also established guidelines and immediate operational criteria to be observed by sanitation and piped gas concessionaires for carrying out and resuming joint interventions in urban areas with underground networks. In recent weeks, Sabesp has stopped works that require joint intervention with gas concessionaires.
This text was originally published by , on April 3, 2026, at 9:18 am. The content is free for republication, the source is cited, and has been adapted to the standard of Poder360.
