Older people dying on job at higher rate than other workers

By Maria Ines Zamudio and Michelle Minkoff The Associated Press

8 years ago

Bryan Texas firefighters transport an injured worker to the ambulance after a deadly explosion at the Bryan Texas Utilities Power Plant left a 60-year-old employee dead and two injured. (Bryan, Texas Fire Department via AP)

In this photo taken July 20, 2017, the Testa Produce Inc. plant on the South Side of Chicago. Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than workers overall, even as the rate of workplace fatalities decreases, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal statistics. In 2015, about 35 percent of the fatal workplace accidents involved a worker 55 and older, or 1,681 of the 4,836 fatalities reported nationally. William White, 56, was one of them. White fell 25 feet while working at Testa Produce Inc. on Chicago’s South Side. He later died of his injuries. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this photo provide by the Bryan, Texas Fire Department, taken on April 29, 2014, shoes belonging to one of the three workers injured after an explosion at the Bryan Texas Utilities Power Plant. The fire killed a 60-year-old worker and injured another two workers. Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than workers overall, even as the rate of workplace fatalities decreases, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal statistics. (Bryan, Texas Fire Department via AP)

In this photo provide by the Bryan, Texas Fire Department, taken April 29, 2014, Bryan Texas firefighters stand outside the Bryan Texas Utilities Power Plant following an explosion and fire. Earle Robinson, 60, and other employees were doing maintenance work at Bryan Texas Utilities Power Plant, about 100 miles north of Houston, when there was a loud explosion. Workers called 911 and pleaded for help. Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than workers overall, even as the rate of workplace fatalities decreases, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal statistics. (Bryan, Texas Fire Department via AP)

In this photo provide by the Bryan, Texas Fire Department, taken April 29, 2014, Bryan Texas firefighters transport injured worker in a stretcher to the ambulance. An explosion at the Bryan Texas Utilities Power Plant left a 60-year-old employee dead and two injured. Earle Robinson, 60, and other employees were doing maintenance work at Bryan Texas Utilities Power Plant, about 100 miles north of Houston, when there was a loud explosion. Workers called 911 and pleaded for help. Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than workers overall, even as the rate of workplace fatalities decreases, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal statistics. (Bryan, Texas Fire Department via AP)

Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than workers overall, even as the rate of workplace fatalities decreases.

That’s according to an Associated Press analysis of federal statistics.

The trend is particularly alarming as baby boomers reject the traditional retirement age of 65 and keep working. In 2015, about 35 percent of the fatal workplace accidents involved a worker 55 and older.

Ken Scott, an epidemiologist with the Denver Public Health Department, says the physical changes associated with getting old “could potentially make a workplace injury into a much more serious injury or a potentially fatal injury.”

Gerontologists say those changes include gradually worsening vision and hearing impairment, reduced response time, balance issues and chronic medical or muscle or bone problems such as arthritis.