Heat and Worker Health

TL;DR

This study analyzes the impact of extreme heat on worker health and safety, revealing increased claims and vulnerability among specific worker groups, with effects persisting and intensifying over time.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on heat-related health risks for workers using extensive insurance data, highlighting vulnerable groups and firm-level variations.

Findings

High temperatures lead to more worker health claims.

Vulnerable groups include female, older, and higher-earning workers.

Heat effects on claims have increased over time.

Abstract

Extreme heat negatively impacts cognition, learning, and task performance. With increasing global temperatures, workers may therefore be at increased risk of work-related injuries and illness. This study estimates the effects of temperature on worker health using records spanning 1985-2020 from an Australian mandatory insurance scheme. High temperatures are found to cause significantly more claims, particularly among manual workers in outdoor-based industries. These adverse effects have not diminished across time, with the largest effect observed for the 2015-2020 period, indicating increasing vulnerability to heat. Within occupations, the workers most adversely affected by heat are female, older-aged and higher-earning. Finally, results from firm-level panel analyses show that the percentage increase in claims on hot days is largest at "safer" firms.