Age in Relation to Worker Compensation Costs in the Construction Industry

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Ind Med
• Personal Author:
  Schwatka, Natalie V. ; Butler, Lesley M. ; Rosecrance, John C.
• 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.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Aged Age Factors Colorado Construction Industry Female Humans Linear Models Male Middle Aged Occupational Injuries Workers' Compensation Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  Am J Ind Med. 2012; 56(3):356-366.
• Pubmed ID:
  22782837
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4476058
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  T42 OH009229/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; T42OH009229-04/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; U60 OH009762/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
• Volume:
  56
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:12d73f968bfd23cec3642b1378c6f067fc46ab4b766192568ba7c4a5df6d3709
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/33789/cdc_33789_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 420.18 KB ]