EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE ACCOMMODATION STRATEGIES FOR OLDER WORKERS

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EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE ACCOMMODATION STRATEGIES FOR
OLDER WORKERS

• Phyllis M. King, PhD
• Center for Ergonomics
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• pking_at_uwm.edu

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Composition of the Workforce

• A 2003 Harris survey revealed 33 of workers say
  they expect to retire between ages 55-64, while
  40 expect to retire between 65-69. One-fifth
  plans to work past the age of 70.
• By 2008, 1 in 6 workers will be over 55.

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WI Demographics for the Year 2015

• of WI residents age 55-64 will grow 37.
• of WI residents age 65 or older will grow 22
• of WI under the age of 55 will fall 2.2
• Over the years there will be marked increase in
  of older workers.

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A COMING DEMOGRAPHIC COLLISION

• Headed toward financial crisis with the elderly.
• Shifting lifetime pensions to lifetime work.
• 77 million baby boomers will be reaching
  traditional retirement age in 5 years.
• People over 45 are 40 of the entire workforce.
• A single standard retirement age no longer
  exists!

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Characteristics of Older Workers

• Lower absenteeism and turnover
• Higher decision quality
• Compensate for strength loss by working smarter
  (more safety conscious)
• Hearing and vision loss
• Less tolerant to night work

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Characteristics of Older Workers

• Injured less often than younger workers
• When older workers get injured, the recovery
  period is longer.
• 19-29 year old aver. days lost per injury
  11
• 50 59 year old aver. Days lost per injury
  47

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Older Workers and Productivity

• Recent surveys show that there is no significant
  relationship between job productivity (work
  output, supervisor ratings) and the age of the
  worker.
• Obsolescence is likely to be a greater threat to
  productivity than is age. Although these two
  factors are usually correlated, they need not be.

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Older Workers and Productivity

• Most compensated time-loss injuries happen to
  workers in their first year of employment.
• The trend is for fewer injuries with age, though
  more costly ones that keep older workers off the
  job longer.

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Older Workers and Productivity

• Recent studies of software application learning
  (word processing, spreadsheets) have shown that
  older novices can reach about the same
  performance levels as younger novices, though in
  most studies older (65) learners took longer to
  do so.

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Older Workers and Productivity

• There is general slowing with age, particularly
  for speeded performance, but this relationship is
  modified by the skill of the individual. For
  typing, despite slowing in reaction time, older
  typists type at the same rate as younger ones.
  (They compensate by looking farther ahead in the
  text that they are transcribing).

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Older Workers and Productivity

• Experience is found to be more highly correlated
  with performance than age.

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AGE-RELATED CHANGES

• SENSORY
• MOTOR
• COGNITIVE
• MUSCULAR

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Visual Changes

• Visual acuity (ability to resolve detail)
  decreases.
• Optimal focal point moves further away.
• Visual discrimination between shorter wavelength
  light decreases.
• Contrast detection decreases.
• Visual adaptation to darker conditions decreases.
• Susceptibility to glare increases.
• More illumination is required to see adequately.
• Useful field of view is reduced.
• Response time to clutter increases.

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Ergonomic Recommendations

• VISION
• High contrast
• Less clutter
• Dont depend on fast response times
• Improve contrast perception with higher
  illumination (indirect lighting, carpeting over
  polished floors, minimize glass display cases.
  Caution using reflective paints.)

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Ergonomic Recommendations

• VISION
• Printed materials should be large (no smaller
  than 12 cpi)
• Increase signage and font size throughout the
  workplace, increase general illumination in the
  work area, and provide task lighting.

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Ergonomic Recommendations

• Vision
• Increase monitor brightness.
• Increase monitor contrast.
• Increase screen zoom in software applications
  such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Use 17 monitors or larger, if possible.
• Avoid using small laptop screens connect laptop
  to an external monitor.
• Place document holders and monitors at the same
  distance from the eyes to minimize the need to
  focus at different distances.

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Ergonomic Recommendations

• Vision
• Increase illumination in all work areas.
• Maintain consistent light levels at the
  workstation and throughout the entire work
  environment.
• Provide ambient (diffused) light sources and
  avoid direct light sources.
• Avoid shiny or stainless steel office equipment
  (lights, staplers, monitor stands, etc).
• Locate monitor directly in front of the keyboard.
• Locate important information or equipment closer
  to the keyboard or monitor.

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Muscular Changes

• Hand movement speed and control decrease.
• Finger and wrist strength decrease.
• Force control decreases.

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Muscle Strength and Fatigue

• Decrease in muscle mass with aging. In healthy
  young adults, muscle constitutes 30 of total
  body weight. By age 75, only 15 body weight.
  Fast twitch muscles which control speed and power
  are more involved in loss. Changes appear first
  in lower extremity flexor groups.
• Tendons and ligaments lose their elasticity,
  decreasing our strength and flexibility.

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Muscle Strength and Fatigue

• Weight training can help prevent muscle wasting.
• Decrease high forces and non-neutral postures in
  the workplace by incorporating mechanical assists
  for heavy manual material handling, eliminate
  lifting and reaching above shoulder height by
  keeping parts and tools in a neutral zone, and
  provide tooling requiring minimal pinch and grip
  forces.

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Lifting and Older Workers

• Muscle Strength
• The strength of the bone in the spine decreases
  dramatically with age between the ages of 40 and
  60 the resistance of the vertebrae of the lower
  spine to fracture actually halves.
• People achieve their greatest muscular strength
  between the ages of 20 and 50.
• Muscle power starts to decline after the age of
  30.
• Strength of back muscles falls by about a third
  between the age of 40 and 60.

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PHYSICAL CHANGES

• Impairments in body structures and functions
  often become the primary barrier to remaining
  employed.
• Degenerative joint disease is typically the
  leading
• cause of physical disability among older adults.
• - Causes difficulty with manual labor and
  mobility
• tasks, resulting in pain and impairment.

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PHYSICAL CHANGES

• Impairments in body structures and functions
  often become the primary barrier to remaining
  employed.
• Interventions
• Use proper body mechanics
• Decrease the load
• Use carts
• Use reachers
• Fall prevention education
• Job modification
• Work simplification

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PHYSICAL CHANGES

• Cardiovascular Changes Increased collagen around
• the heart muscle fibers and valves causes them
• to thicken and not work as efficiently.
• Heart may increase in size and mass as it
• accumulates fatty deposits while arteries lose
• elasticity and develop stiff walls causing heart
  to
• pump harder.

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PHYSICAL CHANGES

• Intervention
• Proper diet
• Conditioning program

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PHYSICAL CHANGES

• Respiratory Changes
• Lungs and chest wall do not expand
• Exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen is not as
  efficient
• Intervention
• Supervised conditioning program

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Physical Changes

• Hearing
• Repeated exposure to high noise levels results in
  permanent threshold shift, decreasing hearing at
  higher frequencies. Chronic high noise levels
  further increase the severity of hearing loss.

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Guidelines for auditory presentation of
information

• Sound
• Permit users to adjust sound volumes
• Avoid frequencies beyond 4,000 Hz
• For warning signals, keep frequency ranges of 500
  to 2,000 Hz and intensities at least 60 dB
• Consider providing redundant information (provide
  parallel visual and auditory information)
• Minimize background noise and reverberation

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Guidelines for auditory presentation of
information

• Speech
• Ensure adequate pauses in speech at grammatical
  boundaries
• Maintain speech rates to 140 words per minute or
  less
• Match voice characteristics to the situation
• If sound location must be signaled with
  high-frequency sound sources, use longer duration

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Cognition

• Working memory (keep information activity)
  declines with age
• Semantic memory (acquired knowledge) doesnt
  decline with age
• Prospective memory (remembering to do something
  in the future), if time-based, older adults show
  deficit if event-based, age-related differences
  are minimal
• Selective and dynamic visual attention decline
• Older adults can benefit from cues to orient and
  capture attention

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Cognition

• Spatial cognition declines with age
• Procedural knowledge (how to do something),
  well-learned procedures are difficult to inhibit,
  however older adults are slower and less
  successful at acquiring new procedures
• Older adults process information more slowly
• Older adults dont perform as well with multiple
  tasks

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Guidelines for the design of training and
instructional programs

• Allow extra time for training older adults
• Ensure that help is available and easy to access
• Ensure a training environment that allows people
  to focus on the training materials
• Ensure optimal organization of training materials
  and provide a structure with clear identifiers,
  headings, and subheadings
• Point out consistencies that may exist between
  elements of the task and the response requirements

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Guidelines for the design of training and
instructional programs

• Match instructional technique and medium to the
  type of material that is being presented
• Allow learners to make errors, when safe, but
  provide immediate feedback
• Reduce training demands, when needed, by using
  park-task techniques
• Provide opportunities for learners to be actively
  involved in the learning process
• Minimize demands on working memory by providing
  cues, dont overload with to much information,
  provide feedback

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Guidelines for the design of training and
instructional programs

• Ensure learners have adequate understanding of
  basic concepts and knowledge to benefit from
  training
• Capitalize on users preexisting knowledge base
• If training sessions are long, rest breaks of at
  least 5 to 10 minutes should be provided

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Implications for Ergonomics Practice

• Aging Workforce
• 1. Adapt training and injury prevention
  resources requirements to suit older workers.
• 2. Practical training is more effective than
  theoretical training.
• 3. Give more practice and assistance during
  transition to new job-related tasks or skills.

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Implications for Ergonomics Practice

• Aging Workforce
• 4. Frequently reinforce safety principles

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Implications for Ergonomics Practice

• Aging Workforce
• 5. Implement lifestyle management or wellness
  programs
• 6. Accommodate for physical and cognitive changes
• Allow self-paced learning
• Relate new skills to past experience

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Implications for Ergonomics Practice

• Aging Workforce
• 7. Telecommuting
• 8. Flexible work hours

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Implications for Ergonomics Practice

• Aging Workforce
• Job redesign to reduce risk factors of awkward
  postures, repetition, force, duration, and
  adverse environmental conditions.
• Consider post-offer pre-placement screening to
  match jobs with older workers abilities.