Assessment of the costs of fatal occupational accidents in Tehran

Background: Occupational accidents are major health problems in both developed and developing countries. The most important aspect is death leading to loss of years of life and work. The objective of this study is evaluation of human costs of fatal occupational accidents in the insured employees by Human Capital method in Tehran. Materials and Methods: Data for this study were collected through specific checklists filled in by referring to the branches of the Social Security Organization. Human costs were calculated by determination of the lost years of life, years of active economic function as well as annual income of the deceased people. Results: In the three years of the study 7552 years of life and 3656 years of work have been lost because of the occupational accidents. Findings also showed that human cost for each occupational accident was 3.36 billion Rials. Human costs of fatal occupational accidents for each year of study was found to be equal to 0.03 percent of Iran's GDP. Conclusion: Very high expenses of occupational accidents mandates more attention to the occupational health and safety services