Workplace disabilities are on the rise

Disabilities among American workers are growing at an accelerating pace, prompting employers to accommodate more maladies in the workplace, according to new government and industry studies.

The problem is increasingly related to unhealthy lifestyles, including poor eating habits and lack of exercise, insurers and researchers say. Also, an aging work force and rising rates of obesity lead to ailments such as back pain, knee and hip injuries and diabetes. And improved treatments for diseases such as cancer and heart disease have meant that some patients who otherwise would have died are now surviving, but with disabilities.

The Council for Disability Awareness, an insurance industry group, found in a soon-to-be-released survey that more than 500,000 individuals received long-term disability payments from the council’s member firms in 2006, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier. In 2005, the first year of the survey, the number of claims rose 1.4 percent. Insurers paid $7.5 billion in claims last year, up 7.5 percent from 2005. The data don’t necessarily include workplace-related injuries, which are covered by workers’ compensation insurance.

Federal government figures show even steeper increases. Recipients of Social Security Disability Income or SSDI, grew 4.4 percent to 6.8 million last year, and was up 51 percent over the past decade, with women filing claims at nearly twice the rate as men, according to an analysis of federal data by the insurance industry group.

Rising disability claims are expected to pose a growing challenge to employers because of labor shortages that are developing as the population ages. Studies show that more baby boomers expect to continue working past the age of 65 or 70, but given current health trends many will develop impairments that will require special workplace accommodations if they are to continue to be productive.

Many employees are already finding their employers increasingly accommodating. OSRAM Sylvania Inc., a lighting manufacturer in Danvers, Mass., allowed Tricia Chambers, 45 years old, to work from home during her year-long treatment for breast cancer. Ms. Chambers, an occupational health manager, says that despite her illness she was able to put in as much as 70 percent of her normal working hours by telecommuting with a laptop computer. “I found working very therapeutic because it was the one thing that took my mind off cancer,” she says.

Sylvania says it has seen increasing numbers of disability claims, especially for lower back and shoulder pain, depression and heart disease. To accommodate such situations, the company, a unit of Siemens AG, recently began offering greater flexibility for employees with impairments to work flexible hours, telecommute, change workshifts to accommodate doctor appointments or change assignments. Sylvania also provides special equipment for workers who need it, including interpreters for workers with hearing loss.

“In the future, there will be more pressure on employers to … to keep as many people at work as you can,” says Christine Sheedy, a risk manager at Sylvania. “Replacing employees costs a lot of money,” she says.

American Express says it has altered the company cafeteria at its Greensboro, N.C., call center to accommodate wheelchair-bound workers, enabling them to access microwaves and bus their trays on carts. Company employees who rely on public transportation because of medical reasons, such as paratransit transportation, can get flexible work schedules to accommodate their needs.

At General Motors Corp., a joint program with the United Auto Workers union helps disabled workers find new positions within the company that are more amenable to a worker’s ailment. Under this so-called Adapt program, disabled workers meet with company doctors, ergonomic representatives and others who review the employee’s disability and try to match that to available jobs. Workers who install windshields, for instance, but who develop problems that restrict how high they can raise their arm, could be moved to door installation instead, since that job doesn’t require workers lift their arms above their shoulders, GM says.

Back and joint problems, cancer, and heart disease were among the leading causes of disability, according to the insurance industry survey and a recent study by the federal government’s Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Chronic bronchitis, congestive heart failure and diabetes also are growing among adults of working age.

Another reason for the accelerating growth in disability claims in recent years is that more claims are being filed for depression and other mental and nervous conditions, insurers say. Such diagnoses were often excluded in the past. Also, insurers say that the larger number of women that began working outside the home in past years is behind the fact that they are now filing claims at a rate twice as fast as men.

“The general health of the work force is declining” says Robert Taylor, executive director of the insurance industry’s Council for Disability Awareness. The council is launching an effort to promote sales of long-term-disability-income insurance, which replaces a portion of one’s wages if one is unable to work because of a qualifying illness or injury. The group’s new informational Web site is www.disabilitycanhappen.org. Currently only 36 percent of workers are covered by such a policy, mainly paid for by their employer.