The water treatment industry is seeing its workforce age, and that could make it difficult to continue functioning in a safe and effective way. As the workforce ages, plants become understaffed. As plants become understaffed, issues with health and safety can arise.
The Aging Workforce in Water Treatment
There isn’t a definitive answer as to why the water treatment workforce is aging. Rather, it may be a combination of things. Few employees are looking into a water treatment as an industry, and few are going into related fields. Salaries in water treatment plants may not be high enough to bring new employees in, and there may not be enough visibility in the industry to bring in new employees.
Regardless of why it’s happening, it’s known that it is: there aren’t enough people who are interested in water treatment to replace the individuals who are leaving or who are retiring. This creates an experience and skills gap that could have a compounding effect.
The Impact of an Aging Workforce
An aging workforce is a problem in any industry, but it’s particularly dangerous in water treatment. There are a certain number of water treatment plants that need to be managed and monitored: this number is required. An aging workforce means that eventually, these plants are going to be understaffed; they aren’t going to be able to be managed effectively. This will introduce major health and safety issues.
Though there may be a large push to hire new employees moving forward, this also means there will be a fast influx of newer, younger employees. With many employees being trained at once, there could be further health and safety issues.
Addressing the Aging Workforce in Water Treatment
Raising salaries to be commensurate with the amount of labor in the industry may be able to help draw in new employees. Presently, many employees at treatment plants have been there for some time, and may not have salaries that are attractive to newer employees.
Additionally, water treatment plants are going to need to create new programs, which are more attractive to the current generation. Younger employees are interested in matters of sustainability and environmental-science, they just need to be introduced to the idea of water treatment as an industry in which they can effect change.
Finally, water treatment centers may want to reach out to their surrounding communities, and directly impact the schools and programs around them, to further increase their visibility as a potential employer.
Apart from this, water treatment insurance can reduce the overall risk, even as the industry changes. For more information, contact the experts at WaterColor Management.
About Watercolor Management
WaterColor Management has insured the water industry for over 30 years. Our policies include unlimited defense cost coverage in the event of a lawsuit against you. Call us at (256) 260-0412 or email info@watercolormanagement.com for a quick quote for your Water Business Professional, Products/Completed operations, Pollution and General Liability Insurance.