Construction workers' views on workplace design and 'healthy' ageing

Abstract

With the recent abolishment of a retirement age we are seeing an increase in an ageing workforce. This can often be difficult to manage, particularly in tough working environments such as the construction industry. Construction and building trades are well known for being tough, heavy and manually challenging, which can prove difficult for the older worker to remain healthy in whilst also exacerbating the decline in physical ability seen in the ageing population. Construction workers are often faced with cold, dark, poorly ventilated working environments however, some organisations working in areas such as maintenance provide somewhat less harsh conditions, often with a slower pace of work in comparison to the building trades and industrial work. In this paper, findings from interviews with 74 construction workers will be presented. Workers came from a small maintenance facility, a medium-sized domestic new-build company and a large civil engineering company. In-depth semi structured interviews took place with participants aged from 18 to over 50 in their place of work, incorporating the Stage of Change questionnaire, Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire and the Work Ability Index. In this paper comparisons are made between working practices, cultures and attitudes in these three organisations. The aim of this research is to provide direction for better work place design using the experience, knowledge and ideas of construction workers by encouraging healthy ageing in the industry, facilitating healthier working behaviours and enabling positive change.