Aging Workforce's Workers Comp Medical and Claims Challenges Explored in Liberty Mutual Webinar.

BOSTON -- Between 2005 and 2010 the number of workers in the U.S. aged 55 to 64 is predicted to increase by 52 percent. With worker maturity comes a new set of risks making it critical for insurance buyers and their representatives to better understand how to help keep these workers safe on the job and, when accidents happen, effectively manage their workers compensation claims.

That's the topic of a new, 30-minute webinar from Liberty Mutual that is available at www.libertymutualgroup.com/agingworkforce.

"The challenge is that while older workers generally have fewer workplace injuries, they are often more costly to treat and tend to be away from work almost twice as long as their younger co-workers," notes Dr. David Deitz, Liberty Mutual's National Medical Director, who leads a staff of 10 doctors. "By understanding the aging process and its impact on workers compensation claims, brokers, agents and employers can help keep employees on the job and better control the cost of their workplace injuries."

During the first part of the half-hour webinar, Dr. Glenn Pransky, who heads the Center for Disability Research at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, reviews the trends leading to an older workforce and the impact of aging on work performance. In the second half, Dr. Craig Ross, a Liberty Mutual Regional Medical Director, uses case studies to illustrate some of the common challenges employers and risk managers face in workers compensation claims involving older workers.

Some of the webinar's highlights include:

* The work-related implications of aging. While aging can spark a 5 percent to 15 percent change in a healthy individual's peak work function, the actual impact on job performance can be minimal given older workers' experience, skills, motivation and other factors.

* The three broad categories of older employees that emerged from a study of 1,540 older workers and their work-related injuries: "Healthy Survivors," "Second Career" and "Trapped."

* Ways to identify and reduce the risk of injury in each of these groups by tailoring jobs to older workers, matching workers to job demands, modifying jobs and workplaces, and encouraging wellness.

* The effects of aging on workers compensation claims management, including the growth of pre-existing, age-related medical conditions that can make it harder to treat work-related injuries.

About Liberty Mutual Group

Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group is a diversified global insurer and sixth largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2007 direct written premium. The Company also ranks 94th on the Fortune 500 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2007 revenue. As of December 31, 2008, Liberty Mutual Group has $104.3 billion in consolidated assets, $94.2 billion in consolidated liabilities and $28.9 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

Liberty Mutual Group offers a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, workers compensation, commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile, general liability, global specialty, group disability, assumed reinsurance, fire and surety.

Liberty Mutual Group (www.libertymutualgroup.com) employs over 45,000 people in more than 900 offices throughout the world.