MODULE 2: THE CHALLENGES OF AN AGING WORKFORCE. Designing the Age Friendly Worksite2 Things that get worse with age… Milk Remembering names Playing basketball.

Designing the Age Friendly Worksite 1

MODULE 2: THE CHALLENGES OF AN AGING WORKFORCE


Things that get worse with age…

• Milk

• Remembering names

• Playing basketball

• Other???


• Fine wine

• Cheese

• Bus fare

• Others??

Things that get better with age…


• Gardening

• Singing

• Driving

• Dancing

• Work???

How does age affect these…


The Physical and Mental Changes of Aging


How Our Bodies Change With Age

• Strength• Endurance• Vision• Light sensitivity• Hearing• Temperature sensitivity• Balance• Reaction time

• Flexibility• Joint range of motion (e.g.

reach)• Manual dexterity• Chronic conditions (e.g.

arthritis)• Healing time• Learning and memory • Sleep disorders


Strength & Endurance

• Strength declines due to changes in muscles and connective tissue– Strength peaks at 20-30 years of age– At 55, our strength is about 80% of strength at 30– Loss in strength is greater in leg muscles than in upper

body• Endurance declines, in part, due to how our bodies

absorb oxygen– Reduced to 70% of maximum by 65 years of age

• Older workers work close to their maximum physical abilities


Vision

• Changes begin near 40 due to changes in our eyes’ lenses and the muscles that focus them– Near-sightedness or far-sightedness

– Restricted depth perception

– Restricted field of vision

– Slowed adaptation to changes in light

– Increased sensitivity to bright lights and glare

– Decreased sensitivity to contrast


Hearing

• Age-related hearing loss begins around 40 and increases sharply around 60

• Characteristics of age-related hearing loss– Ability to distinguish high-pitched sounds (e.g. doorbell) declines

before ability to distinguish lower frequencies

– Understanding conversations can become a challenge

– Background noise makes hearing harder (e.g. factory)

• Noise-induced hearing loss can make age-related hearing loss worse than it would otherwise be


NIHL, Sound Freq and Exposure British Columbia, 2000

0

10

20

30

40

50

500 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 6,000 8,000

Sound frequency (Hz)

Level of hearing loss (dB)

1-5 years

6-15 years

16-25 years

26+ years


Balance & Reaction Time

• Increase in reaction time with age

– 40-year old requires 25% more time than 20-year old

– 60-year old requires 150% more time

• Balance declines with age

– Changes in vision and peripheral sensation

– Postural steadiness declines

• Increased risk of trips, slips and falls


Flexibility and Joint Range of Motion

• Increase in response time for muscles to relax

• Decrease in number and size of muscle fibers

• Decrease in water content in tendons make tissues stiffer and more vulnerable• Decrease in elasticity of ligaments • Deterioration of cartilage in joints from wear and tear


Learning and Memory

• Decline in short term memory, reasoning & processing speed

• Continued increase in long term memory, quantitative knowledge, depth & breadth of knowledge

• No change in ability to learn new tasks

• Increase in time & effort necessary to “encode” information but future retrieval same as for younger person


Aging and Mental Function

Multi-Tasking

Working Memory

Names

Procedural

Memory

Meanings

of WordsPre

serv

edD

eclin

e


Health, Safety and Aging


Prevalence of Chronic Conditions

0 10 20 30 40 50

Percent of Adults 65+

Stroke

Diabetes

Any Cancer

Heart Disease

Arthritis

Hypertension

Data from National Health Interview Survey


0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Incidents per 100 FTE

15-17 18-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70+ Total:

Age GroupSource: Work-Related Injury Statistics Query System (http://www2.cdc.gov/risqs/default.asp)

Occupational Injuries Treated in U.S. Hospital Emergency Departments, 1999


Nonfatal Construction Injury Rates by Age and Incident, 2006

41.6

10.3

89.1

48.5

7.1

78.1

51.9

11

53.2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

15-34 35-54 55+

Falls Transportation Contact with ObjectSource: 2006 Current Population Survey and Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. Calculations by CPWR.

Inju

ry R

ate

per

10,

000

Wo

rker

s

Designing the Age Friendly Worksite 19Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Median Days Away From Work Due to Non-Fatal Workplace Injury, 2004

0 5 10 15 20

14-15

16-19

20-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Days Away from Work

Ag

e G

rou

p

All-Ages

Median


Work-Related Fatalities and Age

2.9

8.7

3.6

10.4

5.7

14.3

02

4

68

10

12

1416

Fatality Rate

(per 100,000 workers)

15-34 35-54 55+

Age Group

All Industries Construction

Source: 2007 Current Population Survey and Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Calculations by CPWR.


Fatal Fall Rates and Age(per 100,000 Workers)

00.2

0.40.6

0.81

1.21.4

1.61.8

16-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Age

Rate

Worker Deaths By Falls: A Summary of Surveillance Findings and Investigative Case Reports. NIOSH, 2000.


Workers 55+

In the workforce*... 11%

89%

Fatal falls27%

73%

Fatal falls from ladders

42%

58%Worker Deaths By Falls: A Summary of Surveillance Findings and Investigative Case Reports. NIOSH, 2000.


Work-Related Deaths in Construction1992-2005

0

100

200

300

400

500

1992 1995 1998 2001 2004

Year

# of Deaths

Fall to lower level Contact with electric currentHighway accident Struck by object


Speed vs. Skill


Skills

Experience

Institutional Knowledge

Lower Injury Rates

Chronic Conditions

Decreased Strength

Higher Injury Severity, Lost Time

Balancing Strengths and Weaknesses


Rose’s Aging Challenges

Rose is aging. She has creaky knees and heart problems. She is also a very valuable resource for Yeats.

Should she keep working?


Generations at Work


Young and Old on the Site Together

Carlos doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with his supervisors at work.

Is he just being difficult?…

MODULE 2: THE CHALLENGES OF AN AGING WORKFORCE. Designing the Age Friendly Worksite2 Things that get worse with age… Milk Remembering names Playing basketball.

Documents

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age friendly worksitehow

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timebalance declines

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