While older workers were historically injured less frequently, things are starting to shift, according to Travelers. In the past 12-24 months, there has been an increase in the injury rate for workers 55 years old and up. (Credit: Graham Oliver/Adobe Stock)
Employees in their first year on the job and those 60 and older are propelling injury frequency and workers' comp claims costs, respectively, according to a survey of 1.2 million claims submitted from 2016-2020 by The Travelers Companies, Inc.
Regardless of age or industry experience, employees in their first year on a job accounted for 34% of all claims and nearly 7 million missed workdays due to injury, Travelers reported.
"More historically speaking, the amount of accidents that occur during the first year on the job has been a little out of pattern with the number of people in the workforce in a job less than a year. But we're seeing that continuing to grow," says Rich Ives, vice president of business insurance claim at Travelers.
He explains that certain industries are seeing even higher portions of claims coming from workers with one year or less on the job. For example, these employees account for nearly half of all workers' comp claims in the restaurant industry. In construction, more than 50% of incurred loss costs come from first-year employees.
"We're also even seeing instances of it in small businesses, where it is about 43% coming from first-year employees. There we know underneath the trend, particularly in the last 12-24 months, that (injury rate among first-year employees) is north of 50%," Ives says.
It would be easy to point to inexperienced workers as the driving factor of this trend, but Ives says that's not the case. Travelers found no correlation between age or industry experience and the rate of injury among first-year employees.
"It was just simply — across all industries, across all sectors, across all age demographics — if you are newer in the role, you are at a higher degree of risk," he says. "If you think about why that would be: They are in a new surrounding. The workflow and processes might be different. If I'm a driver, I might be taking a different route. I might be operating new equipment."
Older workers, higher costs
While older workers (60 or older) are injured less frequently, when claims do occur they tend to cost more. Workers 60 and older see claims costs that are 15% higher than those generated by injured workers between the ages of 35-49, according to Travelers. Claims cost for workers 60 and up are 140% higher, on average, than those generated by injured workers ages 18-24.
According to Ives, this is primarily because older workers are more likely to have comorbidities, or another disease or medical condition not related to the injury.
"For every comorbidity, the cost of the claim dramatically escalates," Ives says.
Dr. Marcos Iglesias, chief medical director, vice president, at Travelers tells PropertyCasualty360.com that it is not uncommon for older workers to have multiple comorbid conditions.
"Those also require treatment and may delay treatment for the physical injury," he says. For example, an older injured patient might have more difficulty getting cardiac clearance for surgery because of pre-existing heart issues, which likely weren't present 20 years earlier.
"Same injury, but you might not be able to get surgery until that is cleared," Iglesias says, noting this can delay return to work and add to the cost of the claim.
Comorbidities aside, as people age it simply takes longer to heal, Iglesias points out.
"Even in a completely healthy 60-year-old versus a completely healthy 40-year-old, physiology matters and those 20 years do make a difference," Iglesias says.
While older workers were historically injured less frequently, things are starting to shift, according to Ives. In the past 12-24 months, Travelers has seen an increase in the injury rate for workers 55 years old and up.
"They have always been more severe, but at least you had the benefit of that more seasoned worker having fewer injuries. Now you have the frequency going up, so you have double the impact," he says. "They are trying to train new employees while taking on more of the work burden as other people are coming up to speed, and that strain is potentially behind the increase."
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