Older employees

Employers have the same responsibilities for the health and safety of older employees as they have for all their employees.

Many older people now continue to work for longer.

This may result in:

• exposure to risks for a longer period
• increased risk of chronic health problems
• being more vulnerable to hazards, a high physical workload and hot and cold conditions

Risk assessment

The risk assessment for older employees should look at situations considered higher risk.

These include:

• shift work
• jobs with a high physical workload
• working in hot and cold conditions

Where possible, adapt work to the employee's abilities.

You can achieve this by:

• using equipment and assistive technologies to reduce physical workload
• good ergonomic design of tools, equipment and furniture
• training in lifting and carrying techniques
• restrictions on heavy lifting and physically demanding tasks
• workplace design that minimises the likelihood of falls
• shorter and more frequent breaks
• flexible working

Related documents

HR healthy workplaces for all campaign (PDF, 409KB, 2 pages)

Health promotion campaign (PDF, 415KB, 3 pages)

Generic risk assessment form (Word, 50KB, 2 pages)

Generic risk assessment fillable form template (Word, 132 KB, 2 pages)