Work-Related Injury Risk and Severity: Correlates of the Aging U.S. Workforce

Objective: Older U.S. workers are less likely to be injured at work, but the consequences of injuries are often more severe.Identification of sub-groups at increased risk of work-related injury risk and severity may inform and support workplace injury prevention efforts. We identified these risk groups in the US workforce using nationally-representative data.

Methods: Data from the 1997-2010 National Health Interview Survey were pooled for workers for the age groups 26-54 (n=144,851) and 55+ (n=30,872). Workplace injury risk was assessed using logistic regression with adjustment for sample design. Injury severity was examined using number of work-days missed due to injury and was classified as low and high severity (<1 and1 or more days missed, respectively. Results were adjusted for race/ethnicity, education level, gender, occupation, and current smoking and drinking status.

Results: Workplace injury prevalence was 0.86%for all workers, and 0.60% for workers aged 55+. Workers 55+ were at a lower risk for work-related injury (Odds Ratio=0.74;[95%Confidence Interval0.63-0.87]). Injury severity was not significantly different between age groups. For both age-groups, Blue-collar workers(age 26-54: 3.33;[2.80-3.95]; age 55+: 2.17;[1.45-3.25])had a higher injury risk. Higher injury severity was associated with being a Blue-collar worker for ages 26-54 (1.45;[1.05-2.01]) and being a non-drinker for workers 55+ (1.99;[1.07-3.73]).

Conclusions: Injury risk is lower in older workers,however risk of associated work-days missed is similar to that of younger workers. Identification of worker subgroups, such as Blue-collar worker, at increased risk can be used to develop targeted workplace injury prevention programs.