Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Industry and Business News .




CLIMATE SCIENCE
Heat saps Australian workers' productivity: study
by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) May 4, 2015


Worker productivity lost due to heat stress cost Australia some US$6.2 billion (5.6 billion euros) in 2013/14, said a study Monday that warned of worse to come as the planet warms.

Three-quarters of respondents to a productivity questionnaire said they were affected by heat at the workplace over a 12-month period, according to findings published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Seventy percent said heat had made them less productive on at least one day in the previous 12 months, and seven percent said they had been absent from work at least one day.

Based on data obtained from the representative group of 1,726 working Australians aged 18 to 65, a team of international researchers calculated the annual cost of absenteeism and impaired performance due to heat at $655 per person.

"This represents an annual economic burden of around $6.2 billion for the Australian workforce," the team wrote. "This amounts to 0.33 to 0.47 percent of Australia's GDP."

The study was done in a particularly hot period in Australian history -- 2013 was the warmest year on record and 2014 the third warmest.

The findings "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," wrote the authors.

Negative impacts from heat can include accidents due to concentration lapses, and lower productivity due to impaired decision-making or fatigue.

Already one of the warmest continents, Australia is particularly at risk of more frequent heat waves as a result of global warming.

It is also one of the world's top per capita emitters of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

The world's nations are negotiating a global pact to limit carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning. The agreement is meant to be sealed at a global summit in Paris in December, and take effect from 2020.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








CLIMATE SCIENCE
Closing the case on an ancient archeological mystery
Pullman WA (SPX) May 03, 2015
Climate change may be responsible for the abrupt collapse of civilization on the fringes of the Tibetan Plateau around 2000 B.C. WSU archaeologist Jade D'Alpoim Guedes and an international team of researchers found that cooling global temperatures at the end of the Holocene Climatic Optimum, a 4,000 year period of warm weather, would have made it impossible for ancient people on the Tibetan Plat ... read more


CLIMATE SCIENCE
MIPT researchers grow cardiac tissue on 'spider silk' substrate

Seeing Stars Through The Cloud

Autonomous convergence and divergence of self-powered soft liquid metals

Space radiation may harm astronauts' brains: study

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Harris wins IDIQ contract for Rifleman Radio

U.S. Special Operations Command orders MUOS-capable radios

Thales supplying intercoms for Australian military vehicles

Army issues draft RFP for manpack radios

CLIMATE SCIENCE
SpaceX to test 'eject-button' for astronauts

Arianespace to launch HellaSat-4/SGS-1 for Arabsat and KACST

Sentinel-2A payload processing begins for Vega launch in June

Ariane 5's first launch of 2015

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Next Generation GPS System Faces Delays, Cost Overruns

Neuronal positioning system: A GPS to navigate the brain

NASA Goddard Team Sets High Flying Record with Use of GPS

China's satellite navigation system to expand coverage globally by 2020

CLIMATE SCIENCE
NASA tests 10-engine electric airplane

NASA concludes most rigorous super pressure balloon flight to date

French Mideast policy helped Rafale jet sales

NASA Tests Shape-Changing Wing for Next Generation Aviation

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Researchers develop acoustically driven controls for smartphones

Printing silicon on paper, with lasers

From metal to insulator and back again

Drexel materials scientists putting a new spin on computing memory

CLIMATE SCIENCE
NASA Aids Response to Nepal Quake

Dull forest glow yields orbital tracking of photosynthesis

MOU between ISRO Department of Land Resources to beef up EO capacity

Technologies enable ambitious MMS mission

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Greenpeace says India office may close within a month

US-backed drug spraying triggers health fears in Colombia

Hungary orders clean-up of 'catastrophic' disused chemical plant

Chemical spill had 'no impact on health': Costa Rica




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.