Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers (2004) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 13-25
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From page 13... ...
economy and relevant social policies, will influence the course of this development over the next few decades. However, even though the older population today is on average healthier, better educated, and wealthier than that older population of previous generations, serious challenges await them, and the rest of the nation, as their numbers grow.
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From page 14... ...
identify relationships between retirement patterns and these characteristics of the older adult workforce and of their jobs. THE NEED FOR RESEARCH We need more information about the factors that influence work decisions at older ages; interactions between work and the aging process; ethnicity; socioeconomic status; gender-related differences in work and retirement patterns, and effective ways to adapt the workplace to meet the needs of an aging workforce.
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From page 15... ...
The purpose is to encourage information-based thinking on how best to craft social policies that guarantee older workers a meaningful share of the nation's work opportunities and implement the government's legal obligation under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to "assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women." THE AGING WORKFORCE: A MOVING TARGET Interpreting the individual and social implications of an aging workforce unavoidably requires that we look at our starting assumptions about aging, health, work, and retirement -- no simple matter since the meaning of these concepts depends on their context. Various U.S.
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From page 16... ...
: that disability is not just a result of the functional impairments that workers bring to the workplace, but is also a reflection of the supports available in their physical and social environment, both on and off the job. Workers of any age can remain productively employed despite health problems if the workplace offers compensating accommodations such as elevators, lifting aids, increased lighting, more frequent work breaks, and an accepting management climate.
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From page 17... ...
suggest that the familiar three-stage life course model needs to be expanded to include some additional transitional periods such as a precareer series of preliminary work experiences; a preretirement period in which the worker prepares to leave the main career job; and a period following exit from the main career job involving bridge jobs in the contingent labor force and possible additional education and training, prior to full retirement from paid employment.
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The upper curve represents the optimal scenario for age-related change, in which environmental exposures are minimized and health promotion and disease prevention are maximized. The middle curve represents usual aging, population averages summarizing varied environmental and occupational exposures and preventive applications in the workplace and elsewhere.
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From page 19... ...
lower curve represents the unfortunate situation where more intensive exposures have occurred and organ function is on a steeper trajectory, thus crossing the disease threshold earlier in life. The figure also portrays the situation of workers facing unhealthy environmental exposures later in life, such as might occur in older workers.
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From page 20... ...
Women workers in the same cohort may consider it normal to add large amounts of unpaid work to their paid employment in the form of caregiving and home labor. Baby boomers represent a swing generation in an occupational world that may deviate in some respects from their expectations.
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From page 21... ...
. Linked Lives An important theme in the life course perspective is that most aging workers are not isolated individuals making autonomous decisions, but rather persons embedded in a system of social relationships that influences their thinking and actions.
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From page 22... ...
In addition to identifying modal patterns for the age cohort as a whole, it is important to understand how the experience of particular subgroups of older workers reflects historical events they have experienced, the timing of key events in their personal lives, and the specific contexts in which their lives are lived. It matters a great deal whether their lives have been lived in an economically advantaged situation or a disadvantaged one; whether or not they have faced discrimination; whether they have had good luck or bad luck at key points in life; whether or not they had support from family and friends; and whether or not they were able to avoid conflicts between potentially competing priorities such as caregiving versus paid employment.
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From page 23... ...
Another reason for attending to the health and safety needs of older workers is that addressing their capabilities, limitations, and needs can help maximize their opportunities for making work-related choices that promote health, safety, and life satisfaction in their later years. This perspective also encourages attention to workplace and community accommodations and support programs specifically aimed at older workers.
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From page 24... ...
Environmental Protection Agency, the committee also conducted a workshop on differential susceptibility of older persons to environmental hazards. The committee discussed data availability and research findings; identified critical issues; analyzed data (including Current Population Survey Data for March 2001)
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From page 25... ...
NOTE ON DATA TABLES IN APPENDIXES In addition to the data tables contained in this report, two appendixes containing additional data tables (several of which are expansions of tables presented in the report) are provided on the National Academies Press internet site (website address www.nap.edu)
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