Cognitive Load and Occupational Injuries.

Summary We investigate the impact of cognitive load on occupational injuries using survey data. Cognitive load is defined in the literature as a tax on bandwidth which reduces the amount of cognitive resources available for engaging in logical reasoning. We proxy cognitive load with the number of nonprofessional tasks that individuals perform every day, conditional on the time they spend on them. The underlying assumption is that when individuals perform a large number of those tasks, this requires mental organization which keeps part of their working memory busy. We show that cognitive load increases the risk of occupational injury for both males and females. The effect is stronger for individualsin high-risk occupations and, among those, for low-educated workers.