oa Onderzoeksnotitie: Vergrijzing en arbeidsveiligheid

Ageing and occupational safety

The main purpose of this article is to investigate possible effects of the ageing workforce on occupational safety in The Netherlands, in order to conclude on age-specific safety and employment policy. We used a large database with data on work accidents in 2005, worker and work characteristics and analyzed this with regression analysis. The results show that the percentage of accidents and accidents with absence from work decline with age, but that the percentage of accidents with prolonged absence from work increases with age. There are clear differences in accident risk between industrial or organizational sectors and interaction effects show differences between worker groups as well. In certain sectors and certain worker groups an increase in the accident risk has been found as a result of increasing age. Young workers are most at risk for occupational accidents. An ageing workforce will therefore have a positive effect on the accident rate in The Netherlands.