Helping employees thrive throughout longer careers starts with understanding how the workforce is changing, and how the work can change with it.
Take a look around your workplace. Are you noticing more co-workers staying on the job later in life? You’re not imagining things. The segment of the workforce age 55 or older continues to grow, driven by increased longevity, later retirement and, for some, a return to work after retirement.
For many employers, that brings a clear advantage: experienced employees contribute years of knowledge, perspective and institutional expertise. It also creates an opportunity to look more closely at workplace safety and health. Age-related physiological changes, including decreased visual acuity and musculoskeletal capability, can affect how work is performed, while recovery may take longer when an older employee is injured.
NIOSH research on aging and work reinforces an important distinction: older workers tend to experience fewer workplace injuries than younger workers, but when injuries do occur, recovery can take longer and serious outcomes may be more likely.
“An experienced workforce brings tremendous value, but experience should never be expected to compensate for a poorly designed task or an avoidable hazard,” said Ed Sowers, Risk Management Service Specialist at Amerisure.
“The goal is to build work that allows employees to use that experience safely—with the right controls, the right tools and the right support around them.”
A Workforce That Is Changing
The aging workforce is not a future trend—it is already reshaping the way organizations think about safety, health and job design. Current U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections show labor force participation among people ages 55 to 64 rising from 66.6% in 2025 to a projected 69.5% in 2035, while participation among workers ages 65 to 74 is projected to rise from 26.7% to 29.1%.
Amerisure’s own experience reflects the presence of this age group in today’s workforce. For policy years 2021 through 2026, across all industries, Amerisure recorded 9,314 Workers’ Compensation claims involving employees age 55 or older. NIOSH data on aging workers reinforces that age itself is not the conclusion: older workers are generally less likely to experience a workplace injury, but injuries that do occur can be more serious.
The opportunity, then, is not to make assumptions about workers based on age. It is to examine whether jobs, environments and safety practices are designed to support an age-diverse workforce. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but thoughtful changes—implemented strategically, consistently, and over time—can help organizations protect employees while preserving the experience they bring to the job.
Helping the Aging Workforce Thrive
To understand where an organization stands—and where action can make the greatest difference—start with the workforce and the work itself.
Age-Inclusive Risk Assessments
Age-inclusive risk assessments can identify the number of older workers in an organization and help create a work environment that enhances their safety and productivity. Assessments and subsequent management strategies can allow companies to retain effective, experienced employees, prevent age discrimination, and identify management and engineering practices to keep these valued employees safe.
The CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard is an assessment tool designed to help employers determine whether they have implemented evidence-based health promotion strategies to improve employee health and well-being. The ScoreCard includes 154 questions about specific programs, policies, environmental supports and health plan benefits. These questions are organized across 18 topic areas and scored to help employers identify gaps and track improvements over time. Topics include:
Organizational Supports
Tobacco Use
High Blood Pressure
High Cholesterol
Physical Activity
Weight Management
Nutrition
Heart Attack and Stroke
Prediabetes and Diabetes
Depression
Stress Management
Alcohol and Other Substance Use
Sleep and Fatigue
Musculoskeletal Disorders
Occupational Health and Safety
Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
Maternal Health and Lactation Support
Cancer
Why use an assessment tool? While employers have a responsibility to provide a safe and hazard-free worksite, they also have opportunities—and a clear incentive—to promote individual health and foster a health-promoting work environment. Employers can provide preventive services, training and tools, along with an environment that supports healthy behaviors.
Designing an effective workplace health promotion program can be tricky. There is no one-size-fits-all approach; a successful program needs to be tailored to employee health needs and the organization’s culture and environment. To be effective, a wellness program also must be comprehensive, weaving together a coherent set of evidence-based interventions that support a culture of health and safety within the organization.
Once the assessment is complete, the hard work begins: What can an employer do to minimize the potential for employees to become injured? There is no single solution. A combination of strategies may be best suited to the workforce, workplace and circumstances.
- Put the Hierarchy of Workplace Safety Controls to Work
A safety professional’s first instinct may be to go to the hierarchy of workplace safety controls—elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment—but those controls should also be evaluated through an age-inclusive lens.
Consider workplace noise. What if a noise issue interferes with both hearing protection devices and the use of a hearing aid? Or, if workplace noise makes speech difficult to hear, have all available engineering controls been implemented to eliminate or minimize the hazard and help an older worker with diminished hearing hear speech? Looking first at the work itself can lead to solutions that benefit more than one employee.
Engineering controls that may help include:
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- Ergonomically friendly workstations
- Mechanical lift-assist devices
- Slip-resistant walking/working surfaces
- Ventilation considerations to minimize airborne contaminants or irritants
But engineering controls are only part of the picture. Other practical changes can proactively support the safety, health and well-being of an aging workforce.
- Make Workplace Modifications That Matter
Small steps in adapting the physical work environment may include changing signage so it is easier to read or increasing illumination to provide better lighting where needed. Other examples may include moving break rooms closer to common work areas, providing cushioned anti-fatigue mats for workers who stand on the job, and ensuring footwear is not worn or weathered. These relatively simple, inexpensive changes can support proactive injury prevention—and often improve the work environment for employees across age groups.
“Sometimes the most effective safety improvements are also the most practical,” Sowers said. “Better lighting, an ergonomic workstation or a lift-assist device can help address a hazard before it becomes an injury, and those changes can benefit employees across age groups.”
- Promote Employee Wellness Activities
Incorporating employee wellness activities into the work setting does not have to be complicated, expensive or even time-consuming. Often the most effective activities are the simplest, and employees may be more likely to participate when they are easy to follow. Some ideas may include:
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- Starting an employee walking club.
- Beginning staff meetings by standing up and doing light stretches.
- Using internal communication channels to share tips and information about staying healthy and active at work.
- Offering lunch-and-learn sessions about wellness topics such as nutrition, exercise, sleep and hydration.
- Making healthier food options available through vending machines or the cafeteria.
- Plan for Return to Work After an Illness or Injury
Since older workers can take longer to recover from illness or injury, return-to-work and accommodation strategies take on increased importance. Early intervention approaches can include early medical management, functional job analysis and graduated return-to-work planning programs.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy provides Stay at Work/Return to Work resources focused on helping employers retain capable, experienced workers. Federal ergonomics guidance also emphasizes understanding job demands and developing return-to-work programs that support recovery.
- Embrace Technology
Automation can help mitigate various injury risks. In the waste industry, for example, side-loader garbage trucks have removed the need for a worker to ride on the step while also reducing hazards outside the truck and musculoskeletal concerns related to manual lifting and repeatedly leaving and re-entering the vehicle.
In healthcare, lift aides and devices such as sit-to-stand lifts and glide sheets can help minimize the potential for strains and sprains. Will we see the age of robotic hospital beds that can eliminate manual lift and transfer exposures altogether? You never know. As technology evolves, the opportunity is to keep asking where physical demands can be reduced before an injury occurs.
- Communicate with Care and Put Experience to Work
Although adjusting work responsibilities or redesigning job tasks to more evenly distribute physical demands can have a positive effect on older workers’ health, the effort may be met with reluctance by the workers themselves. After all, for many, perception is reality.
For supervisors who want to talk with older workers about making changes to the job, choose words wisely and with care. If a worker is beginning to pivot away from more regular manual labor, consider presenting the situation as an opportunity to take on an “apprentice” who can learn from and benefit from the worker’s expertise. The institutional knowledge older workers have may open new, safety-related doors, but communicating in a way that is not perceived as demeaning or “less than” is key.
A potential career path for older workers is to become involved in training, safety and site-safety activities. After a long career, employees may have an opportunity to continue relying on that breadth of experience in a different way. Presented thoughtfully, the transition can reinforce that the employee remains a valued contributor while helping move the organization toward a more focused safety culture.
“Some of the most valuable safety knowledge in an organization is already on the floor, in the field or at the bedside,” Sowers explained. “When experienced employees are invited to mentor, identify hazards and help shape safer ways to work, organizations are not stepping away from their expertise, they’re putting it to work in a new way.”
Looking Ahead
Older workers will remain a major component of the workforce for the foreseeable future. For safety professionals and employers, that creates a clear opportunity to act: understand the work, address hazards, adapt where needed and build systems that allow employees to contribute safely throughout longer careers.
Although incident rates are lower for older workers compared with many groups, injuries that do occur can be more serious. Providing appropriate accommodations for older workers can help prevent injuries for employees across age groups. Proactive age management can help organizations retain valuable experience while creating sustainable work systems that use the strengths of an age-diverse workforce.
The goal is not to design a workplace around age. It is to design work around people—using thoughtful assessments, practical controls, technology, communication and expertise to help employees thrive at every stage of their careers.
Want additional resources or practical ideas to support your aging workforce? Explore our Risk Management page, or connect with your Amerisure Risk Management Consultant to discuss strategies tailored to your workplace.
