NCCI Proves what we Knew All Along

Monday, January 16, 2012 | 0

A new report has been produced by the the National Council of Compensation Insurance indicating that older workers do not account for a larger percentage of workers' comp accidents than the overall employee population. In a way, the theme of the article seems that NCCI may have been surprised by the final numbers.

We should all give kudos to NCCI as they could have swept the stats under the rug and just not completed the study. I have seen researchers just not publish a study when the forecasted numbers are not as expected overall.

I have attended a few NCCI conferences over the last few years. One of the main sections that had always been covered was the older worker concerns in the general worker population. I kept wondering if they were trying to say that older workers cause more Workers Comp accidents. The causation issue was never directly addressed at any of the meetings.

Many studies on older workers have been performed by various research organizations along with state and federal governments. Unless I am mistaken, the studies usually agreed with the same conclusion drawn by NCCI. A German study on older workers seemed to agree in part with what NCCI had covered in their study.

One of the largest studies undertaken on the workplace on a worldwide basis seems to agree with the German study and the NCCI study.

The specific variables on age and work in the US can be found in the Sloan Center Report. If you skip down to page 21 and go from there, the results are very clear.

I thought I would throw in my two cents worth on why older workers are happier and safe workers. I came up with the following list:

Job satisfaction results in a higher level of organizational commitment
     Older workers have a high level of job satisfaction
     The level of experience eliminates the learning curve. As we all know, the most dangerous time is when an employee uses a machine or is assigned a new job task for the first time.
     Organizational commitment also includes safety programs
     Older workers have been around long enough to see the results of when safety programs are not followed – namely accidents.

This list is not comprehensive by any means. I am sure there are more that easily can be added to the list.

<i>James J. Moore is owner of J&L Risk Consultants in Raleigh, N.C. This column was reprinted with his permission from his blog.</i>