As in many other industries, the average age for workers in the landscaping services industry* has been rising, from 38.1 in 2011 to 40.9 in 2019. While knowledge and skills generally improve with age, physical abilities such as strength, reaction time, and balance may decline. Typically, the injury rate for older workers is lower than for younger workers. When older workers get injured, the injuries are more likely to be severe and expensive and lead to more lost time from the workplace.
The NIOSH Center for Workers’ Compensation Studies (CWCS) and the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (Ohio Bureau) have been researching workers’ compensation (WC) data to improve safety and health in the workplace since 2013. Researchers at NIOSH and the Ohio Bureau recently studied claims in the Ohio Bureau database from the landscaping services industry. This research was performed to determine differences in claims from workers of varying ages and to examine the circumstances leading to those claims. The results of this research were recently published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, “The Role of Worker Age in Ohio Workers’ Compensation Claims in the Landscaping Services Industry.”
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