Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Work. 2024;79(2):695-701. doi: 10.3233/WOR-230133.
Firefighting is recognised as a physically demanding occupation involving exposure to hazardous environments and activities. An aging workforce combined with the age-related decline in physical fitness may result in increased future workers' compensation expenditure for fire service organisations.
The objective of this research was to investigate the costs associated with musculoskeletal sprain and strain injury and the impacts of age and injury location on Workers' Compensation claims submitted by professional urban firefighters.
Claim rates, direct costs, and days lost were extracted from a professional Fire Service organisation's workers' compensation claim database for financial years between 2011 to 2018.
The mean cost per claim increased with age, with a mean claim cost of the 60-70-year-old group over 10 times more than the 20-29-year-old group. The mean days lost per claim were also higher for claims submitted by firefighters aged over 50.
Older firefighters miss more workdays when injured and are associated with increased claims costs, particularly those in the 60-70-year group. With an aging workforce, Fire Service organisations must implement appropriate management and prevention strategies to reduce the potential risks associated with an aging workforce.
消防工作被认为是一项体力要求很高的职业，涉及到暴露在危险环境和活动中。老龄化的劳动力队伍加上与年龄相关的体能下降，可能会导致消防服务机构未来的工人赔偿支出增加。
本研究的目的是调查与肌肉骨骼扭伤和拉伤相关的成本，以及年龄和受伤部位对职业城市消防员提交的工人赔偿索赔的影响。
从 2011 年至 2018 年期间的一个专业消防服务机构的工人赔偿索赔数据库中提取了索赔率、直接成本和损失的天数。
平均每个索赔的成本随着年龄的增长而增加，60-70 岁组的平均索赔成本是 20-29 岁组的 10 倍以上。50 岁以上消防员提交的索赔中，平均每个索赔损失的天数也更高。
受伤的老年消防员旷工天数更多，索赔成本也更高，特别是 60-70 岁组。随着劳动力队伍的老龄化，消防服务机构必须实施适当的管理和预防策略，以降低与老龄化劳动力相关的潜在风险。
