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Heat Stress: Ambient Temperature and Workplace Accidents in the US

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Abstract

Combining records for 71,225 severe accidents from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration with a panel of county-level weather data for 1990 to 2010, we find that heat shocks significantly increase accident rates across the United States, while cold shocks significantly reduce them. We find that heat shocks increase accidents both in plausibly temperature-sensitive industries, like construction and agriculture, and among industries that are not obviously sensitive to weather. While we find suggestive evidence of short-term adaptation to heat shocks over summer months, we find no evidence that the impacts of heat shocks have fallen over our 21-year panel.

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  • Lucy Page & Stephen Sheppard, 2019. "Heat Stress: Ambient Temperature and Workplace Accidents in the US," Department of Economics Working Papers 2019-05, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    • Handle: RePEc:wil:wileco:2019-05
    Note: Revision of earlier 2016 version
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    File URL: https://web.williams.edu/Economics/wp/Heat_Stress_Working_Paper.pdf
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    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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