PERTH: Heat stress cost the Australian economy more than $6 billion in the 2013 financial year through lost productivity and worker absenteeism, a new study shows.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change , also suggests workplaces will need to introduce ways of reducing heat exposure if this figure isn’t to escalate further as the number of heat waves increases due to climate change.
For the study, environmental economist Dr Kerstin Zander, at the Charles Darwin University’s Northern Institute, and colleagues, conducted an online survey of 1726 workers across Australia to see how their productivity was affected by hot temperatures
The survey, completed in 2014, looked back over the previous 12 months, which was reported in Australia as having some of the hottest days on record.
The authors found 75 per cent of those surveyed were affected by heat at their workplace, 70 per cent said heat had made them less productive on at least one day, and about 7 per cent missed work at least one day or work.
Zander says the average economic cost due to productivity loss from heat stress was US$932 per person per year.
She says in general the majority of workers suffering from heat stress reported “presenteeism”, rather than absenteeism.
This means those surveyed continued at work, but noticed a drop in their productivity, often compensating for that by working longer hours.
When the economic impact of their compensatory behaviour was factored in, the average loss per worker per year dropped to an average US$655.
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