Cost to Benefit
Implementing Occupational Heat Safety Practices Save Money!
Cost of Productivity Loss Due to Heat
Absenteeism: Worker Compensation Claims
Examples from OSHA fatalities for exertional heat stroke
New York
At 3:30 p.m. on August 2, 2018, an employee was working at a recycling plant and was shredding plastic. Employee was working at recycling plant and presented at the emergency room personnel with signs of heat stroke.
Violation Cost: $20,329
Nebraska
At 11:15 a.m. on July 13, 2018, an employee was working at a farm in the fields. During work, the employee became overheated and began to get disoriented. The employee strayed away from the other workers, suffered a heat stroke, and died. When the supervisor realized that the employee was missing, a search party was organized. The employee was found dead the next morning. The autopsy report attributed the cause of death to heat stroke.
Violation Cost: $11,641
Florida
At 2:00 p.m. on August 25, 2018, an employee was using a lawn edger for approximately 6 hours and began to feel lightheaded. The employee was placed in the shade and given a sports beverage and water to drink. The employee began to feel better and went back to work where he soon passed out and was unresponsive. The employee began to have "seizure-like" activity and experienced multiple organ failure, severe dehydration, and hyperthermia. The employee is killed.
Violation Cost: $16,102
Presenteeism: Reduced Physical Work
Examples from:
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Morabito M, Messeri A, Crisci A, et al. Heat-related productivity loss: benefits derived by working in the shade or work-time shifting. Int J Product Perform Manag 2020;70:507–25. doi:10.1108/IJPPM-10-2019-0500
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Foster J, Smallcombe J, Hodder S, et al. An advanced empirical model for quantifying the impact of heat and climate change on human physical work capacity. Int J Biometeorol 2021;:1–15. doi:10.1007/s00484-021-02105-0
Economic Cost = Worker’s Salary x Productivity Loss (%) (1)
Productivity Loss is a loss in physical capacity to do work, which affects work output
Physical capacity losses based on air temperature and Relative Humidity (2).
Example:
Worker Daily Salary: $400 per day
Ambient Temperature: 35° C
Relatvie Humidity: 45%
Economic Cost for one employer undergoing heat stress
Economic Cost = $400 x 0.71 = $284
The organization will have lost $284 dollars per worker per day based on the environmental conditions and worker daily salary.
10 workers = $2,840 a day!
100 workers = $28,400 a day!
Cost of Heat Safety Plan
Example: Cooling Vests
One cooling vest = approximately $50 per worker
10 workers = $500
100 workers = $5,000
For 100 workers: will you invest $5,000 for cooling equipment to save $28,400 a day