Age in relation to worker compensation costs in the construction industry

Details

• Personal Author:
  Butler LM ; Rosecrance J ; Schwatka, Natalie V.
• Description:
  Background: A better understanding of how workers' compensation (WC) costs are affected by an aging US workforce is needed, especially for physically demanding industries, such as construction. Methods: The relationship between age and injury type on claim costs was evaluated using a database of 107,064 Colorado WC claims filed between 1998 and 2008 among construction workers. Results: Mean WC costs increased with increasing age for total cost (P < 0.0001), medical costs (P < 0.0001), and indemnity costs (P < 0.0001). For each one-year increase in age, indemnity, and medical costs increased by 3.5% and 1.1%, respectively. For specific injury types, such as strains and contusions, the association between age and indemnity costs was higher among claimants aged > / = 65 compared to claimants aged 18-24. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that specific injury types may be partially responsible for the higher indemnity costs among older construction workers, compared with their younger coworkers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Aging Construction Industry Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Age-factors Age-groups Author Keywords: Aging Workforce Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Construction Industry Health-care Health-services Information-systems Injuries Medical-treatment Occupational-health-services Occupational Injury Older Workers Surveillance-programs Worker-health Workers' Compensation

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement ; Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  356-366
• Volume:
  56
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042994
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2013 Mar; 56(3):356-366
• Contact Point Address:
  Natalie V. Schwatka, MS, AEP, Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, 1681Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80521
• Email:
  nvschwatka@gmail.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20240831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:52b5a853f16e2a1f6be0f02c8d701a847ca2868a869f58f527e792cb16ac738bfde1d037a605f862cd95fa3449fef3ba3da1199f4abfdf7ed63e3ee56d826ddc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195037/cdc_195037_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 153.07 KB ]