Stakeholders’ views on the ageing construction workforce: Preliminary findings

The UK population is rapidly ageing, resulting in an older workforce. In construction, older workers face particular challenges due to the harsh conditions of the workplace and the heavy manual nature of tasks. Although perceptions of older workers include them being slow and averse to health and safety training, the construction industry needs to consider the ways in which healthy ageing can be encouraged in the workplace. This is an important issue for both managers and the workers themselves. Focus groups were held with construction stakeholders in three companies to investigate their views on older workers, healthy ageing and opportunities and barriers. This paper presents the preliminary findings from these focus groups.