The Value Of Occupational Safety – Estimation Of Lost Productivity In The Polish Agricultural Industry

The study was to assess the level of lost productivity of human resources in the Polish agricultural industry determined by working conditions. The assumed analysis was conducted in a time frame by assessing the accident ratio and its economic consequences in Polish agriculture. The estimation of costs of lost productivity is based on the adoption of the so-called human capital approach. A comparison of the lost product value in the A section – “Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing”, with average results recorded in the economy indicates high divergence resulting both from existing differences in the scale of burden with consequences of incapacity for work and from the conducted valuation of working time against mean values in economy. Depending on the adopted criterion for valuation of the unit of working day, estimated values of lost productivity in the A section per one injured fluctuate between 22 and 150% of mean values obtained for economy in total, and between 30 and 212% per 1,000 persons working in the given section (year 2016). The obtained results, apart from indicating an economic aspect of relations between occupational safety and productivity, constitute the basis for discussion on the profitability of health “interventions”.