Heat stress causes substantial labour productivity loss in Australia
(2015) In Nature Climate Change 5(7). p.647-651- Abstract
- Heat stress at the workplace is an occupational health hazard that reduces labour productivity(1). Assessment of productivity loss resulting from climate change has so far been based on physiological models of heat exposure(1). These models suggest productivity may decrease by 11-27% by 2080 in hot regions such as Asia and the Caribbean(2), and globally by up to 20% in hot months by 2050(3). Using an approach derived from health economics, we describe self-reported estimates of work absenteeism and reductions in work performance caused by heat in Australia during 2013/201(4). We found that the annual costs were US$655 per person across a representative sample of 1,726 employed Australians. This represents an annual economic burden of... (More)
- Heat stress at the workplace is an occupational health hazard that reduces labour productivity(1). Assessment of productivity loss resulting from climate change has so far been based on physiological models of heat exposure(1). These models suggest productivity may decrease by 11-27% by 2080 in hot regions such as Asia and the Caribbean(2), and globally by up to 20% in hot months by 2050(3). Using an approach derived from health economics, we describe self-reported estimates of work absenteeism and reductions in work performance caused by heat in Australia during 2013/201(4). We found that the annual costs were US$655 per person across a representative sample of 1,726 employed Australians. This represents an annual economic burden of around US$6.2 billion (95% CI: 5.2-7.3 billion) for the Australian workforce. This amounts to 0.33 to 0.47% of Australias GDP. Although this was a period when many Australians experienced what is at present considered exceptional heat(4), our results suggest that adaptation measures to reduce heat effects should be adopted widely if severe economic impacts from labour productivity loss are to be avoided if heat waves become as frequent as predicted. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7584920
- author
- Zander, Kerstin K. ; Botzen, Wouter J. W. ; Oppermann, Elspeth ; Kjellström, Tord LU and Garnett, Stephen T.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Nature Climate Change
- volume
- 5
- issue
- 7
- pages
- 647 - 651
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000356821900015
- scopus:84932132715
- ISSN
- 1758-6798
- DOI
- 10.1038/NCLIMATE2623
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0f6637dd-2a48-4e12-b120-8772a14f8dc1 (old id 7584920)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 09:58:16
- date last changed
- 2022-04-27 08:57:48
@article{0f6637dd-2a48-4e12-b120-8772a14f8dc1,
abstract = {{Heat stress at the workplace is an occupational health hazard that reduces labour productivity(1). Assessment of productivity loss resulting from climate change has so far been based on physiological models of heat exposure(1). These models suggest productivity may decrease by 11-27% by 2080 in hot regions such as Asia and the Caribbean(2), and globally by up to 20% in hot months by 2050(3). Using an approach derived from health economics, we describe self-reported estimates of work absenteeism and reductions in work performance caused by heat in Australia during 2013/201(4). We found that the annual costs were US$655 per person across a representative sample of 1,726 employed Australians. This represents an annual economic burden of around US$6.2 billion (95% CI: 5.2-7.3 billion) for the Australian workforce. This amounts to 0.33 to 0.47% of Australias GDP. Although this was a period when many Australians experienced what is at present considered exceptional heat(4), our results suggest that adaptation measures to reduce heat effects should be adopted widely if severe economic impacts from labour productivity loss are to be avoided if heat waves become as frequent as predicted.}},
author = {{Zander, Kerstin K. and Botzen, Wouter J. W. and Oppermann, Elspeth and Kjellström, Tord and Garnett, Stephen T.}},
issn = {{1758-6798}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{7}},
pages = {{647--651}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Nature Climate Change}},
title = {{Heat stress causes substantial labour productivity loss in Australia}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE2623}},
doi = {{10.1038/NCLIMATE2623}},
volume = {{5}},
year = {{2015}},
}