Welfare gain of controlling emission from cement manufacturing factories in the South-western Bangladesh

Purpose Emission of the suspended particulate matter (SPM) from cement factories results in a wide range of negative health effects to its workers. It induces substantial cost incurred by them in the form of wage loss and mitigation cost. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to estimate emission-induced cost of illness (COI) and the share of this cost that could be saved through limiting the current emission level at national safety standard. Design/methodology/approach COI approach which accounts workers’ wage loss and mitigation cost due to emission-induced illness was used in this study. A sample of 120 workers from three factories followed by 40 from each was randomly surveyed for collecting information on their health status and mitigation cost. It covered almost 10 percent of cement factory workers in the south-west region of Bangladesh. In addition, factory-specific emission data were also collected from the Department of Environment for addressing the study objective. Findings It revealed that the average level of SPM emission by these factories which was almost three times higher than the national safety standard induced 34.39 million Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) (USD0.46 million) as COI paid by workers yearly. It accounted around 28 percent of their annual income of which 64 percent worth BDT22.16 (USD0.30) million could be saved by meeting the standard annually. Originality/value This study provides insights into the essence of regulating cement industrialists toward meeting the national safety standard of emission.