Loughborough University
Browse

Facilitators and barriers to the protection and promotion of the health and safety of older workers

Download (81.84 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2017-08-11, 12:31 authored by Carolyn Drake, Roger Haslam, Cheryl Haslam
© 2017 Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. Individuals may experience health issues or physical, sensory or psychological capability changes related to ageing. With the removal of the default retirement age in the UK, older workers can remain in work well into later life. Health and safety statistics, however, indicate that they are a vulnerable group. Older workers have much to contribute, but employers have a responsibility to examine the working environment to protect those with reduced capabilities. This article reviews two qualitative studies examining the facilitators and barriers to implementing age management strategies to promote the health and safety of older workers. The findings reveal that employers are uncertain how to proceed with implementing actions to protect older workers. Discussions with older workers reveal they do not feel supported or engaged. They are fearful of reporting any capability changes that may affect their ability to perform work tasks as they believe this may have negative consequences for their future employment. A co-ordinated multi-disciplinary approach between human resources, operational management, health and safety specialists and occupational health functions is required.

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

Policy and Practice in Health and Safety

Volume

15

Issue

1

Pages

4 - 18

Citation

DRAKE, C.M., HASLAM, R. and HASLAM, C., 2017. Facilitators and barriers to the protection and promotion of the health and safety of older workers. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 15(1), pp. 4-18.

Publisher

© Taylor and Frances

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Acceptance date

2017-01-29

Publication date

2017-02-19

Notes

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Policy and Practice in Health and Safety on 19 Feb 2017, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14773996.2017.1289453

ISSN

1477-3996

eISSN

1477-4003

Language

  • en