CHE Seminar Series: High temperatures and workplace injuries
High temperatures can have a negative effect on workplace safety for a variety of reasons. Discomfort and reduced concentration caused by heat can lead to workers making mistakes and injuring themselves. Discomfort can also be an incentive for workers to report an injury that they would not have reported in the absence of heat. We investigate how temperature affects injuries of professional tennis players in outdoor singles matches. We find that for men injury rates increase with ambient temperatures. For women, there is no effect of high temperatures on injuries. Among male tennis players, there is some heterogeneity in the temperature effects, which seem to be influenced by incentives. Specifically, when a male player is losing at the beginning of a crucial (second) fourth set in (best-of-three) best-of-five matches, the temperature effect is much larger than when he is winning. In best-of-five matches, which are more exhausting, this effect is age-dependent and stronger for older players.
Speaker profile
Jan van Ours is an applied economist focusing on labor, health and sports economic issues. He retired four year ago (mandatory) and since then has had part-time positions at Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam (Netherlands). He is currently working on papers about tennis and heat-induced injuries (topic of the seminar of November 13), job mobility of football players and managers, the dismal effects of early school-leaving, non-transitivity in football match outcomes. His most recent publications are on mortality rates after a heart attack, long-term football rivalries, tasting of Dutch new herring, attendance effects of new football stadiums, empty football stadiums and team performance, mental health and homelessness, retirment and mental health, mental health effects of same-sex marriage legalization and racial bias in newspaper ratings of professional football players.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.
Event Details
- Date:
- 13 November 2024 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
- Venue:
- Caulfield campus, Building H, level 8, room H8.13
- Categories:
- CHE Seminar; General
Description
High temperatures can have a negative effect on workplace safety for a variety of reasons. Discomfort and reduced concentration caused by heat can lead to workers making mistakes and injuring themselves. Discomfort can also be an incentive for workers to report an injury that they would not have reported in the absence of heat. We investigate how temperature affects injuries of professional tennis players in outdoor singles matches. We find that for men injury rates increase with ambient temperatures. For women, there is no effect of high temperatures on injuries. Among male tennis players, there is some heterogeneity in the temperature effects, which seem to be influenced by incentives. Specifically, when a male player is losing at the beginning of a crucial (second) fourth set in (best-of-three) best-of-five matches, the temperature effect is much larger than when he is winning. In best-of-five matches, which are more exhausting, this effect is age-dependent and stronger for older players.
Speaker profile
Jan van Ours is an applied economist focusing on labor, health and sports economic issues. He retired four year ago (mandatory) and since then has had part-time positions at Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam (Netherlands). He is currently working on papers about tennis and heat-induced injuries (topic of the seminar of November 13), job mobility of football players and managers, the dismal effects of early school-leaving, non-transitivity in football match outcomes. His most recent publications are on mortality rates after a heart attack, long-term football rivalries, tasting of Dutch new herring, attendance effects of new football stadiums, empty football stadiums and team performance, mental health and homelessness, retirment and mental health, mental health effects of same-sex marriage legalization and racial bias in newspaper ratings of professional football players.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.