The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”) today released a report claiming that renewable energy is safer than ‘conventional’ power generation and that switching to renewable power generation could save up to 1,300 lives each year.
The OSHA report said that renewable energies should improve the health of the 700,000 U.S. workers in the energy sector, citing researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Their research is published in the August 19 issue of JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. Steven Sumner, M.D. and Peter Layde, M.D., professor of population health and co-director of the Injury Research Center at the college, examined occupational health risks to workers in renewable energy industries compared to those in fossil fuel industries.
They pointed out the risk of workplace injury and death among energy workers is a hidden cost (or “externality”) of energy production. Externalities of energy production include problems ranging from damage to the general environment to adverse health effects caused by pollution, injuries, and fatalties. Sumner and Layde concluded that wind and solar energy appear to lessen injury risks because the energy extraction phase is minimized or eliminated in wind or solar energy production. Biomass, comprised of biofuels, organic waste, and wood derived fuels, currently accounts for more than half of U.S. energy renewable consumption and does not appear to offer a significant safety benefit to U.S. workers relative to fossil fuels, they found.
“The energy sector remains one of the most dangerous industries for U.S. workers. A transition to renewable energy generation utilizing sources such as wind and solar could potentially eliminate 1,300 worker deaths over the coming decade,” Sumner said.