RISK OF ACCIDENTS AND THE POLICY OF FORCED RETIREMENT

I. INTRODUCTION The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (and its subsequent revisions) protect workers from adverse employment decisions based on age (Davidson et al., 1988). As with many Acts of Congress, this one provides for exceptions. In this case, an exception is the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ). The courts have ruled that the Age 60 rule put in place in 1960 by the Federal Aviation Administration can be treated as a BFOQ (Howard, 1980). Motivated by concern for the flying public's safety, this rule requires that airline pilots retire at the age 60 (Rinaldo, 1985). This paper examines accident data pertaining to airplane pilots to determine if there is evidence to support the continued use of the Age 60 rule. Numerous studies have investigated issues related to risks associated with the work environment (see Arnould and Nichols, 1983; Broome, 1978; Biddle and Zarkin, 1988; Fuchs and Zeckhauser, 1987; Hersch and Viscusi, 1990; Jones-Lee, 1976; McCaffrey, 1983; Root and Daley, 1980; Viscusi, 1992; and Williams and Carsten, 1988). Others have investigated possible links between worker (or pilot) age and work place accidents. Of the work place accident studies, a majority have found a link between worker age and accident experience. Root (1981) and Mitchell (1988) find that workers below 25 years of age have higher temporarily disabling accident rates than do older workers. They also find that workers in the 65 and older age range have more serious accidents than do younger workers. In a study of 30,581 injuries related to occupational falls, Rossignol (1994) finds that the death rates of workers 55 years old and older resulting from falls were about twice that of workers in the 45 to 54 age range. Yet, the injury rates of 55 year old and older workers were no higher than that of the total population of injured workers. Root and Hoefer (1979) and Siskind (1982) find that workers in their first full year on the job generally have higher injury rates than do workers on the job a longer period of time. Siskind concludes that inexperience and failure to understand safety issues are causes of high injury rates by recently hired workers. Aviation based accident studies also indicate a link between pilot age and accident involvement. Using 1973-1977 aviation accident data for general aviation aircraft flown by pilots with COMMERCIAL and ATP certificates - that is, licenses requiring more advanced training than that of entry level or PRIVATE licenses - Mohler (1981) finds that the number of accidents caused by pilot incapacitation drops below expected values as pilots' ages increase. Mohler finds that the ratio of observed accidents to accidents expected by age decreased below a value of one at about 35 years of age. Golaszewski (1983) studies data from 1976 to 1980 and groups pilots into classes. His graphs show that accident rates for pilots with Class III medical certificates (required for PRIVATE licenses) appear to decrease until about age 60 but increase after that. Golaszewski finds that accident rates vary inversely with recent flight time. In the 1985 hearings before the Select Committee on Aging, House of Representatives, 99th Congress, medical experts and others who testified did not agree on the probable dangers of having pilots older than 59 years pilot large airplanes. More recently, Kay et al. (1993) analyze aviation accident data for the years 1976 to 1988. Their tables show little evidence that pilots in the 60-64 age range have higher accident rates (accidents per hour flown), than do younger pilots among all pilots with Class III medical certificates (required for a PRIVATE license) or with Class II medical certificates (required for a COMMERCIAL license). Kay et al. also finds that for pilots with Class I medical certificates (required for pilots flying large passenger carrying airplanes) accident rates of the 55-59 age range are similar to the accident rates of younger pilots. …