December 23, 2005—Responses from the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Web site poll question, ‘As the current labor force ages and the upcoming labor pool shrinks, from an SH&E perspective, is your workplace prepared to accommodate or adapt to the aging worker/ workforce?’ to date shows a major percentage of respondents say their workplace is not prepared. The poll question was put up in mid-November and will remain up through January 2006.
The workforce is aging and how this affects on-the-job safety is an issue many ASSE members have addressed. While the baby boomer generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, known to be the largest segment of our population today is aging and beginning to retire, the labor pool following this generation is shrinking.
Companies are not only faced with losing qualified and valuable employees, but having a hard time replacing them. Additionally, workers 64 years and older suffer the least amount of injuries on the job compared to their younger counterparts, yet have a higher fatality rate, mainly due to transportation incidents and falls. ASSE believes companies must act now to address this issue.
For more on the poll, visit the ASSE Web site. A presentation titled ‘Effective Safety Training for an Aging Workforce’ is also available for downloading.
