%0 Journal Article %T Productivity estimation in economic evaluations of occupational health and safety interventions: a systematic review %A Steel, Jonas %A Godderis, Lode %A Luyten, Jeroen %J Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health %D 2018 %8 September 44 %N 5 %@ 0355-3140 %F Steel2018 %X '

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OBJECTIVES ': 'Occupational health and safety (OHS) interventions` effect on worker productivity is an essential, but complex element of the value of these programs. The trustworthiness of economic evaluation studies, aiming to provide guidance to decision-makers in the field of OHS, depends at least partly on how accurately productivity changes are measured. We aim to review the methods used to estimate productivity changes in recently published economic evaluations of OHS interventions.

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METHODS ': 'We performed systematic searches of economic evaluations of OHS programs published between 2007 and 2017 and reviewed these studies` methods to quantify the programs` impact on worker productivity

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RESULTS ': 'Of the 90 identified studies, 44 used a human capital approach, 17 a friction cost approach, 13 stated productivity in natural units (eg, a cost-per-absence-day-avoided), 7 made use of compensation expenses, 4 used output-based methods, 4 an "ad hoc" approach, and 1 study did not state its method. Different approaches were combined in 19 studies. Within these methods, we observed a wide diversity in their precise implementation, especially regarding the measurement and valuation of absenteeism and presenteeism.

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CONCLUSIONS ': 'Productivity is a key element of the economic attractiveness of investing in OHS. Economic evaluation studies of OHS would benefit from more methodological standardization in their approach to quantifying productivity change. Future research should better account for the methodological uncertainty that occurs in estimating it in order to demonstrate the impact that particular choices and approaches to productivity estimation can have on cost-effectiveness results.

%K absenteeism %K cost-effectiveness %K economic evaluation %K friction cost %K human capital %K indirect cost %K measurement %K methodology %K occupational health %K occupational health and safety %K presenteeism %K productivity estimation %K review %K systematic review %K valuation %K work %R 10.5271/sjweh.3715 %U https://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=3715 %U https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3715 %P 458-474