The Aging Workforce: Ergonomics, Comorbidities, Lighting, and Strategies for Reducing Claims

The BLS has published data that predicted a large increase in both the percentage and count of those 75 and older in the workforce. That increase was projected to occur between 2020 and 2030, putting the current workforce almost directly in the middle of that change. The group of workers who will make up that increase in numbers are currently in the 55–74 age group in the BLS data set. In 2023, the Pew Research Center reported that the number of workers 65 and older still in the workforce has doubled in the last 35 years. More of those workers are working full time (62% versus 47% in 1987). All of this is, of course, a reflection of our aging population as a country.

There are advantages to having older workers in the workplace, such as job-specific and institutional knowledge and lower overall injury rates. Conversely, when injuries do occur in older worker populations, indemnity and medical costs both tend to be higher secondary to longer recovery times.

Comorbid Factors in Workers’ Compensation

As the workforce ages, the prevalence of comorbid medical conditions has increased, contributing to higher medical and indemnity costs among older employees.

While it’s certainly not the only comorbid factor to affect workers’ compensation injury frequency or outcomes, diabetes is quite common and has been termed the “quiet epidemic.” Diabetes is a worldwide problem across age groups, but it is more prevalent in those 65 and older. According to the CDC, 29.2% of adults 65 years of age and older have diabetes. When diabetes is present, tissues heal more slowly after an injury and between bouts of strenuous or repetitive work activity. This means that this single factor can extend recovery times post-injury and make injury more likely to occur with repeated activity over time. It can also affect balance and vision—but more on that later.

While a full listing of potential comorbid factors is beyond the scope of this article, looking at this one common and fast-growing comorbid factor can offer valuable insights. Considering common comorbidities as a multiplier of loss, particularly in older workers, can help companies determine practical workplace prevention methods that might otherwise be overlooked.

What should employers do? Health benefits and workers’ compensation are not always considered together, but they are linked. Employers can implement health promotion programs to counteract some of the ill effects of aging, diabetes, and other comorbid factors that tend to contribute to injury frequency and drive workers’ compensation claim costs up. They can also design the workplace and work tasks in a way that helps offset some of the known effects of aging and common age-associated comorbid factors. Two areas of practical application are covered below.

Increase Lighting Levels

Falls can be an issue for older workers. Even without a comorbid factor present, normal aging produces vision changes, often leading to the use of multifocal lenses and a decreased ability to see in lower light levels. Aging also results in slower reflexes, including those reflexes that allow the body to maintain and regain balance. Additionally, decreased toe clearance during walking, and decreases in overall strength and agility, can all combine to cause falls.

While some of these factors are not in the employer’s direct control, lighting levels often are—and increasing lighting levels can be a preventative measure. Workers in their 60s can need two to three times the light intensity to perform the same task as a younger worker. This same dynamic can affect the workers’ ability to see and avoid objects on a walking surface. The illustration below conveys what an industrial staircase may look like to a younger worker, an older worker, and an older worker wearing multifocal lenses.

Increasing lighting levels is a good start to both avoid falls and maximize your employees’ available visual acuity. Additional slip, trip, and fall prevention measures could include:

• Ensuring that mats and walkways have clear and contrasting colors and/or borders. When looking at this factor, don’t forget parking lots, curbs, and ramps.
• Keep housekeeping at the forefront. Debris and liquids on the floor can easily cause a trip or slip and fall.
• Maintain walkways and other transitions to avoid lips, drop-offs, and surface damage that can catch feet.
• Consider less slippery floor finishes and higher friction flooring options.
• Be cognizant of balance requirements and job task design. Older workers may struggle to maintain their balance whereas younger workers may not. This applies to all kinds of surfaces, stools, ladders, stairs, and even equipment.

Many studies show that falls causing injury increase in this same age group. When you superimpose the frequency of diabetes in this age group (almost one in three) and consider that visual acuity decreases with age and is accelerated by several age-associated comorbid factors, the need to increase lighting in lower light areas becomes apparent. High-efficiency lighting choices have multiplied over time, along with lower energy consumption from the same fixtures and bulbs, making this a more cost-effective option than in the past.

Improve Ergonomics

Repetitive and forceful tasks can become more challenging as our bodies age. Strength, sensory function, and tissue healing rates all decrease as we age. Physically demanding and repetitive tasks take a heavier toll on an older body, and recovery is slower. Additionally, without improved lighting, employees may adopt compromised postures in an attempt to see more clearly. These factors make clear the importance of choosing job tasks and methods carefully to avoid injury. Companies should lean on engineering-type fixes (versus behavioral fixes) and automation to resolve these issues.

Comorbid factors can compound injury potential and cost. If a diabetic worker with slower tissue healing rates cannot fully heal between shifts—even the everyday healing needed between sessions of physical exertion—the normal microtears incurred during repetitive or heavy tasks will eventually build and can become a reported injury. Once that injury occurs, the slower healing rate increases days taken off work, as well as indemnity and medical costs.

While employers cannot fully control comorbid factors, they can control some of the stressors and exertion experienced during job tasks. They can increase automation, make common ergonomic fixes, and apply assistive methods to lower employee exertion. While all workers can benefit from the list below, older workers may benefit the most:

• Consider additional automation where feasible.
• Build height adjustability into as many work surfaces as possible.
• Invest in powered equipment to assist or take over lifting, pushing, and pulling.
• Provide pneumatically or electrically assisted hand tools, particularly where employees encounter repetitive tasks and high forces.
• Provide Lighter weight tools and or tool balancing systems.
• Correct tool handle alignment (straight or 45-degree handles versus 90-degree handles, depending on the material orientation).
• Provide larger diameter tool handles.
• Provide low vibration tool options.
• Install angled fixtures and jigs designed with operator body position and height adjustability in mind.
• Increase lighting levels and make task lighting adjustable for each workstation.
• Provide visual assistive devices such as magnifiers and microscopes with large monitors at a correct viewing height and angle. The correct viewing angle must allow for neutral head and neck postures.

As the current 65-year-old workers age into the 75-and-up age group, comorbid conditions will likely increase in number and some of the factors outlined in this article will likely intensify. Employers can prepare for this eventuality by attempting to provide a brighter workplace, conducting an assessment to ensure other fall prevention methods are in place, linking health promotion and worker’s compensation mitigation efforts, and engaging a range of exertion-lessening options for ergonomically demanding tasks assigned to the aging workforce.

Reach out to your Woodruff Sawyer service team or safety consultant to discuss these and other methods for improving worker safety.