Assessing older worker perceived climate of occupational health and safety : a descriptive study

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate differences between skilled craft workers' and other workers' (1) assessments of job characteristics related to occupational health and safety, and (2) perceptions of employer willingness to accommodate older workers with declining work capacity. This research used data collected by the Health and Retirement Study, a study of workers aged 51 to 61 years conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Aging. Items from the Health and Retirement Study survey questionnaire were used to construct two scales: the occupational health and safety climate scale and the willingness to accommodate scale. The first scale used nine survey questions that elicited workers' assessments of the frequency they experienced job characteristics associated with a negative occupational health and safety climate (OHSC). The second scale contained six survey questions that elicited workers' perceptions of employer willingness to accommodate the needs of aging workers. Following analysis of data with descriptive statistics, it was concluded that older skilled craft workers assessed their jobs as having characteristics (e.g., lifting heavy loads and working in awkward positions) associated with a negative health and safety climate significantly more often than workers in other job classifications. Within the skilled craft group, it was concluded there was no significant difference between younger old (aged 51- 55 years) and older old (aged 57-61 years) worker assessments of OHSC; there was a significant difference between male and females, with females assessing their jobs as having a significantly higher frequency of characteristics (including less freedom to decide how do their work and a high degree of repetitiveness) associated with a negative OHSC; there was no significant difference in the assessments of OHSC between Blacks and Caucasians or between Blacks and Latinos, but there was a significant difference between Caucasians and Latinos, with Latinos assessing their jobs as having a higher frequency of characteristics associated with a negative OHSC; and there was no significant difference in assessment of OHSC between union and non-union members. It was concluded that there was no significant difference in how skilled craft and other workers perceived the willingness of their employers to accommodate the needs of older employees.