Métodos de Valoración de los Costos Indirectos de la Enfermedad Laboral

In the field of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), occupational illness is a relevant aspect for the General System of Occupational Risks, companies and the worker. The study of occupational illness is not only important for preventive and occupational medicine but also for OSH administration. In this sense, the costs associated with the appearance of work-related illnesses require in-depth analysis, since at a macro level, that is, for the country, an ill workforce does not contribute to improving its competitiveness, even more so when the signing of free trade agreements imposes new challenges. At the meso level, related to companies, it is necessary to know what the costs of having sick workers are; in terms of the impact they have on their absenteeism indicators, as well as on the image they project to their clients. Lastly, for the worker, in terms of the costs that being sick implies, such as the decrease in their work capacity and less adaptability to the changes that occur in their work life. For this reason, this paper aims to present the two most widely used methods for establishing the indirect costs of an occupational disease, namely: human capital and friction costs. To this end, an application exercise was carried out in the Colombian context, taking as a reference the case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, as it is one of the most prevalent occupational diseases in Colombian companies. Finally, it is hoped to show the importance of making visible in economic terms the consequences of not preventing occupational diseases in companies.