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PCCA Journal|1

st

Quarter 2010

37

A

report of conference presentations and dis-

cussions among participants from the Na-

tional Academies of Science, universities and

research institutions, and representatives of

professional associations, industry, and labor

recommends attention to workplace environ-

ments to maintain “work ability” as workers age, along

with legislative fixes and research to fill in knowledge

gaps for keeping workers healthy and productive.

According to researchers using U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics (BLS) data, older workers are more severely

injured and die with greater frequency from work-relat-

ed injuries than younger workers. Older workers also

have longer recovery periods than younger workers.

These findings raise health care delivery and economic

issues for the nation, as more workers are choosing to

delay retirement due to collapsed 401(k) plans and sav-

ings. BLS uses workers age 55 and older in its calcula-

tions, although the rates rise sharply for those workers

over age 65. Other agencies and organizations define

the term as age 50 or 55 and up. The Department of

Labor uses age 40 as a starting point for “older work-

er.”

“The issue of healthy aging is critically important as

the U.S. economy is revitalized,” said National Institute

for Occupational Safety and Health Director John How-

ard, M.D. “As we go forward in time, the demand for

workers will grow, but fewer workers will be entering

the workforce and a larger proportion of the workforce

will be older. This is a simple reality of demograph-

ics. Having a healthy, productive workforce will help

sustain economic growth in the decades ahead. We

must take steps now to help all workers stay safe and

healthy at work as they age. We must also take steps to

address the special needs of older workers who, more

and more, will be staying on the job past traditional

retirement age.”

The conference paid particular attention to work-

ers in physically demanding jobs, including construc-

tion. Construction workers already suffer the highest

number of fatalities in any U.S. industry. But the death

rate among construction workers 55 years and older

was nearly 80 percent higher than that of construc-

tion workers younger than 35 in 2007. And like the

rest of the workforce, the average age of a construction

worker is rising; it was 40.4 in 2008, which is 4.4 years

older than in 1985. The average retirement age among

construction workers is 61.

“Our nation loses an average of four construction

workers every workday to a job-related incident, and

that’s been consistent for more than a decade,” said

Pete Stafford, executive director of the Center for Con-

struction Research and Training. “As we start to rebuild

our nation’s crumbling infrastructure and venture into

green jobs, we want to make sure jobsites do not be-

come a source of pain and death for older workers who

have so much to contribute, especially in mentoring

younger workers.”

The full conference report and presentations from

national and international researchers on occupational

health and safety issues can be found on the Society

for Occupational and Environmental Health’s website,

www.soeh.org

.

Safety News

Safety News continued on page 38

NIOSH Update: Aging Workers

at Higher Risk of Death, Severe Injury