Elsevier

Safety Science

Volume 43, Issue 10, December 2005, Pages 779-793
Safety Science

Safety considerations for the aging workforce

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2005.08.014Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the psychological and physical issues of the aging workforce based on recent literature. Descriptions of physical aging and cognitive aging are presented and the relationship of these factors to worker safety, especially those relevant to the mining industry, is discussed. The authors include suggestions for the integration of this knowledge in the design of appropriate safety and health interventions for older workers.

Introduction

We are an aging population, an aging workforce. There are over 70 million baby boomers in the US workforce, and one turns 50 every 7 s (Dahlberg, 2004). In the United States, the number of workers 55 years or older will increase by almost 50% between 1998 and 2008, while those between 25 and 54 will increase by only 5.5% (Clifton, 2001). The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by the year 2015 there will be 55 million workers 45 years of age or older in the United States. This is approximately 40% of the workforce. The most rapid increase in the aging population growth is calculated to occur between the years of 2010 and 2030, when the baby boom generation reaches age 65 (AARP, 1996, Hopkins et al., 1991). By 2006 in the federal government alone, 493,000 employees in the top 24 federal agencies will be eligible to retire. According to former Sen. Fred D. Thompson, R-Tennessee, agencies without adequate numbers of workers, including enough experienced workers, run the risk of not being able to carry out their missions or deliver services (Federal Employees News Digest, 2001). In light of these statistics, fewer workers will be available and older workers may have to remain working longer than the traditional retirement age of 65.

In many ways the trend of older workers remaining in the workforce is beneficial for the nation’s economy. For instance, older workers’ expertise is valuable to companies, and many companies prefer to keep their older employees as long as possible. Additionally, older workers have lower non-fatal injury rates. However, when older workers do get hurt they need more time off and suffer fatalities at a higher rate (Kisner and Pratt, 1999). It has been shown that job characteristics such as high stress, repetitiveness, and high physical demand are statistically related to early retirement (Yeatts et al., 1999).

In the mining industry, a disproportionately large number of workers will retire during the next five years. Fig. 1 illustrates the mining workforce by age groups and year, showing the aging trend since 1997. Fig. 2 defines three age groups (18–34, 35–44 and over 45) illustrating the percentage of the workforce in each age group by year from 1997 to 2003. The bottom line trend is an aging workforce with fewer workers to replace those retiring. In fact, the trend toward an aging workforce is amplified in the mining industry due to a boom in the 1970s which necessitated the hiring of a large number of workers, most of whom were in their twenties. In the 1980s and 1990s the mining process became increasingly capital-intensive, with downsizing and layoffs that resulted in a scarcity of younger new-hires over a several-year period. In response to these demographics, the mining industry has prioritized the issue of improved work procedures and training needs for aging workers in order to maintain the workforce and prevent future accidents and injury.

This paper discusses psychological and physical issues specific to the aging workforce and relates the information to the mining industry. Similar to the recommendations suggested by Teiger (1994), this paper integrates research in the areas of epidemiology, ergonomics, and experimental psychology to address the challenges of the aging workforce. The authors propose preliminary recommendations to address the safety considerations for the aging workforce in the mining population.

Section snippets

Definition and terminology

The “older worker,” as defined under the Age Discrimination and Employment Act (ADEA), is 40 years or older. This group will soon make-up the largest portion of the working population in the United States and should be considered a valuable economic resource deserving special attention.

Gerontechnology, a phrase coined by Graafmans and Brouwers, is “the multi-disciplinary study of aging and technology for the benefit of a preferred living and working environment…” (Fozard, 1997). Gerontechnology

Cognition

The common belief has been that as humans age there are reduced functions, both physically and cognitively. When researchers refer to cognitive aging, they are usually addressing age-related changes in the fields of memory, attention, intelligence, language, decision-making, learning, and information processing. Cognitive aging has important consequences for one’s ability to learn and perform many work-related tasks. Some psychologists believe that the biological processes of aging cause

Shift work

Harma and Ilmarinen (1999) refer to the 24-h society in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health. The authors point out that the health and well-being of the aging shift worker is a combination of several job-related, individual, and psychosocial factors. Thus, interventions for the aging worker need to be multi-dimensional. These authors noted that older employees have a need to adjust their work demands to their private lives. Older workers want a life more balanced between

Accommodating workers through ergonomics

Broadly defined, ergonomics, as it relates to the working population, is fitting the job to the worker. This entails matching the task, the tools, and the environment, to the needs of the worker with the goal of achieving a healthy, productive workplace (Allie, 1994). Because older workers may struggle with work demands and job requirements, using ergonomics to improve work design, work environment and tool design becomes extremely important. Thus, in order to keep our workers continually

Applications to mining

Mining is considered to be one of the most physically demanding occupations. Bituminous coal and lignite mining rank second in the nation for the average cost per worker for fatal and all nonfatal injuries and illnesses (Leigh et al., 2004). Within mining, musculoskeletal injuries conservatively make-up nearly 40% of all nonfatal injuries, and they tend to increase and become more severe with age. Currently, the median age for workers in the mining industry is greater than in the civilian labor

Discussion and recommendations

The authors agree with Clifton (2001), who suggests that employers who underestimate the strengths of older workers may be missing a valuable source of labor in an increasingly tight market. The key to effective accommodation for older workers is through a diagnostic approach that begins with the anticipation of reducing losses for all workers while enabling prolonged healthy work conditions for the aging worker. The mining industry needs to accommodate and utilize the older worker as an

Kathleen M. Kowalski-Trakofler is a Research Psychologist at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, NIOSH. She received her Ph.D. in counseling from the University of Pittsburgh, and her M.S. in Counseling and Behavioral Disabilities and B.S. in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her present research interests include the changing mine workforce, stress as related to heart disease in the mining community, and the human response to disaster.

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    Kathleen M. Kowalski-Trakofler is a Research Psychologist at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, NIOSH. She received her Ph.D. in counseling from the University of Pittsburgh, and her M.S. in Counseling and Behavioral Disabilities and B.S. in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her present research interests include the changing mine workforce, stress as related to heart disease in the mining community, and the human response to disaster.

    Lisa J. Steiner is a Chief in the Ergonomics Section of the Mining Injury Prevention Branch for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. She obtained her master’s degree in Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and is a Certified Professional Ergonomist. She has been working in the research area of mining ergonomics for 13 years. Her areas of interest include remote control mining, roof bolter operations, mining sequence plans and operator positioning, implementing ergonomic processes and interventions, and task analysis.

    Diana J. Schwerha is an Ergonomics Fellow in the Ergonomics Section of the Mining Injury Prevention Branch for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. She received her doctorate in Industrial and Management Systems Engineering from West Virginia University. Her interests include the role of distraction on the performance of manual assembly tasks, the aging worker, mining ergonomics, and applied anthropometry.

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