Coal Bits

COAL Bits
Cultivating a well-aged workforce
Surveys indicate that, in many industrialized nations, the workforce is aging. A growing percentage of over-50 workers in a number of industries, including mining, means that employers must adjust training and occupational safety programs to accommodate the needs of older workers while maintaining a productive workforce. It sounds daunting, but a four-step process outlined at a recent mine health and safety conference may simplify the process:

First, appraise the risks inherent in your operation. What’s the average age of the workforce? The average years of experience? The most common types of workplace injuries? Use the data collected to formulate prevention strategies based on broad functional activities and the types of injuries common to each functional category.

Second, take this process to the next level. Design intervention strategies based on productivity, cultural and risk analyses. Build on intervention policies that may already be in place.

Third, if necessary modify work sites, work stations, job functions and ergonomic education to minimize the potential for injury by accommodating the physiological impact of aging.

Fourth, revamp your injury claims process, if necessary, to incorporate aggressive claim management policies that simultaneously address medical treatment and return-to-work procedures. Prompt medical treatment usually reduces recovery time, while so-called “pre-loss” identification of transitional duty assignments can drastically cut lost time exposure.

And finally, don’t be misled by common misconceptions that older workers have higher rates of absenteeism and injury. U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics show just the opposite: 72% of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses requiring time off the job occur among workers that are 45 or younger.

Excerpted from “Aging Workers: The Effects of Aging on the Working Population,” R. Wayne Clifton, 32nd Annual Institute on Mining Health, Safety and Research.