The basis for a method to integrate work environment in life cycle assessments

A method is proposed for including work environment in life cycle assessments. The method is based on five quantitative and two qualitative impact categories. The quantitative categories include: (1) deaths due to work-related accidents; (2) workdays lost due to work-related accidents and diseases; (3) workdays lost due to illness (exceeding ‘normal’); (4) hearing loss; and (5) allergies, eczemas and similar diseases. The qualitative impact categories have been represented by: (6) carcinogenic impact; and (7) impact on reproduction. The impacts in categories 1, 2, 4 and 5 can be estimated for companies and for trades using statistics. Impact category 3 can only be estimated using statistics from companies. For categories 6 and 7, semi-quantitative estimates are possible. The quantitative methods suggested for the work environment part of an LCA can be used in parallel with the quantitative methods for the external environment. The advantages and disadvantages with the methods proposed are also discussed. Impacts have been calculated for energy production, transport and steel production.