HEALTH AND SAFETY IS FOR EVERYONE
to determine a person’s fitness to do a job. In 2006, the Oxford Institute of Ageing found that age-related cognitive decline in functions such as thinking, memory, learning, attention span and use of language is gradual so that the impact on those of working age—up to 65 or 70—may be limited. Yet Ready, Willing and Able, a report published by the TUC in 2006, revealed that more than a million workers from Britain’s post-war baby boom generation are struggling to find employment because of their age.
Why attitudes must change If the government is to achieve its aim of reaching an employment rate of 80 per cent then attitudes to employing older people, as well as working conditions, must change. Chris Ball, chief executive of The
“When conducting risk assessments, companies should keep in mind the varying capacities of all their workers”
Age and Employment Network (TAEN), says the responsibility of the employer is always to provide a healthy and safe workplace. When conducting risk assessments, companies should keep in mind the varying capacities of all workers and
treat each one as they find them. “Within a given population of workers, of any particular age cohort, you’re still going to find many of widely varying abilities, capacities and bases of health and wellbeing,” he says. But Ball acknowledges that there are probably some issues that can be singled out as risks when assessing older workers, but which are “no more than common sense”. He adds: “Many people, but not all, experience conditions that deteriorate over the period of a lifetime. But with a safe and proper
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