Health & safety and the ageing workforce

With twice as many people working past the State Pension Age, we need to give proper attention to the health and safety implications of the changing workforce.

I have highlighted before our research into the ageing public sector workforce in Scotland. With the 50-60 age group expanding the fastest, around 40% of the workforce is likely to retire within ten years. This is reflected in the wider workforce, with one in three workers over the age of 50 by 2020.

Yesterday, I was speaking at the RoSPA conference in Glasgow on this issue.

I argued that we need to recognise that despite equality legislation, older workers face at best unconscious bias in the workplace, and at worst overt discrimination. This shows itself in attitudes towards training, development and promotion opportunities. The UK will have 7.5m job vacancies to be filled by 2022, and that's before the impact of Brexit. With one million 50-64 year olds unemployed, but wanting to work, we simply cannot allow their skills to be wasted.

As I said in a recent column in The Scotsman, we need to talk less about the demographic time bomb and more about the demographic dividend. We need to find ways of keeping older experienced staff and helping them to pass on their knowledge and skills.

That's not to say that we should ignore the health implications. Older workers are at risk of burnout, due to the physical and emotional demands of their jobs over a long period. We need to look at later life career changes, flexible working and develop a funded sabbatical policy.

Older workers have a lower incidence of short-term absence, but a higher risk of long-term illness. This needs to be reflected in sickness absence policies that have become increasing rigid in recent years. For example, workplace dementia will be a new condition for many employers to address. Some 3,200 workers under 65 have been diagnosed and this means that employers need a strategy that includes diagnosis, support and adaption. The Alzheimer's Society has a useful guide on this issue.

While there is no evidence that older workers are at greater risk in the workplace, there are some age related factors. Older workers are at marginally higher risk from slips and falls; physical strength and stamina declines with age; as does sight and hearing. However, I could produce a different list of risks with younger workers.

We therefore need to respond to the challenges and opportunities of an ageing workforce as we would for any other safety risk. By risk assessment and if necessary by redesigning jobs to reflect age factors. All the time remembering that older people are not a homogenous group, to be lumped together in a one size fits all response.

Overall, we need to change workplace culture to regard older workers as a positive gain to the workforce. This starts by raising awareness and developing a strategy. Such strategies need to recognise the health and safety implications - always remembering that work needs treatment too, not just the worker.