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Economic Decisions on Proposed Work Environmental Studies – a Theory for Cost and Value of Information

Received: 28 December 2015    Accepted: 6 January 2016    Published: 25 January 2016
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Abstract

Assessment studies of occupational exposures are retrospectively evaluated based on their achieved statistical efficiency and/or their imposed costs. However, any decision on the performance of such studies strongly requires an economic evaluation in advance. The economic evaluation of proposed work environmental studies needs, in turn, access to information on the socio-economic impacts of occupational exposures. The present article aims to help policy makers in their decisions on proposed work environmental studies by introducing a cost-value approach to the information to be produced during the studies. The cost-value approach is not exposed to subjective judgements, as in the approach of “willingness to pay”, nor to consideration of invaluable statistical efficiency as “output”, as in exposure assessment studies. The work environmental study investigated in this article contained three different groups of occupational exposures that caused sickness absences and impairments at work in a Swedish company, Sandvik Materials Technology. The results show that the suggested study would be acceptable to the policy makers in the company, as its estimated value was strictly greater than its estimated costs.

Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 4, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.12
Page(s) 11-19
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Occupational Exposures, Economics of Information, Social Benefits, Policy Makers, Economic Efficiency

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Mahmoud Rezagholi. (2016). Economic Decisions on Proposed Work Environmental Studies – a Theory for Cost and Value of Information. Science Journal of Public Health, 4(1), 11-19. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.12

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    ACS Style

    Mahmoud Rezagholi. Economic Decisions on Proposed Work Environmental Studies – a Theory for Cost and Value of Information. Sci. J. Public Health 2016, 4(1), 11-19. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.12

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    AMA Style

    Mahmoud Rezagholi. Economic Decisions on Proposed Work Environmental Studies – a Theory for Cost and Value of Information. Sci J Public Health. 2016;4(1):11-19. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.12,
      author = {Mahmoud Rezagholi},
      title = {Economic Decisions on Proposed Work Environmental Studies – a Theory for Cost and Value of Information},
      journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {4},
      number = {1},
      pages = {11-19},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20160401.12},
      abstract = {Assessment studies of occupational exposures are retrospectively evaluated based on their achieved statistical efficiency and/or their imposed costs. However, any decision on the performance of such studies strongly requires an economic evaluation in advance. The economic evaluation of proposed work environmental studies needs, in turn, access to information on the socio-economic impacts of occupational exposures. The present article aims to help policy makers in their decisions on proposed work environmental studies by introducing a cost-value approach to the information to be produced during the studies. The cost-value approach is not exposed to subjective judgements, as in the approach of “willingness to pay”, nor to consideration of invaluable statistical efficiency as “output”, as in exposure assessment studies. The work environmental study investigated in this article contained three different groups of occupational exposures that caused sickness absences and impairments at work in a Swedish company, Sandvik Materials Technology. The results show that the suggested study would be acceptable to the policy makers in the company, as its estimated value was strictly greater than its estimated costs.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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    AU  - Mahmoud Rezagholi
    Y1  - 2016/01/25
    PY  - 2016
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20160401.12
    AB  - Assessment studies of occupational exposures are retrospectively evaluated based on their achieved statistical efficiency and/or their imposed costs. However, any decision on the performance of such studies strongly requires an economic evaluation in advance. The economic evaluation of proposed work environmental studies needs, in turn, access to information on the socio-economic impacts of occupational exposures. The present article aims to help policy makers in their decisions on proposed work environmental studies by introducing a cost-value approach to the information to be produced during the studies. The cost-value approach is not exposed to subjective judgements, as in the approach of “willingness to pay”, nor to consideration of invaluable statistical efficiency as “output”, as in exposure assessment studies. The work environmental study investigated in this article contained three different groups of occupational exposures that caused sickness absences and impairments at work in a Swedish company, Sandvik Materials Technology. The results show that the suggested study would be acceptable to the policy makers in the company, as its estimated value was strictly greater than its estimated costs.
    VL  - 4
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Author Information
  • Department of Occupational and Public Health Sciences, University of G?vle, G?vle, Sweden

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