Workplace safety regulations and worker well-being: the impact of mandatory helmet use on career length in the national hockey league

Abstract

ABSTRACT The long-term health problems resulting from professional careers in contact sports such as hockey and football have recently received lots of attention. The lawsuits initiated by NFL- and NHL-veterans suffering from repetitive concussions of the brain that eventually lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy are two particularly prominent examples. The question, whether these long-term health problems could have been avoided, remains a highly contested issue. Using detailed career information on every single player drafted in the ten seasons before (1969 thru 1978) and the ten seasons after (1979 thru 1988) the implementation of mandatory helmets, we find that career length in professional hockey has increased by about two years, suggesting that adequate protective equipment contributes to player health and fitness. This positive effect, however, is somewhat reduced by specific forms of ‘offsetting behaviour’.