Ergonomics strategies and actions for achieving productive use of an ageing work-force.
In this report, a basic ERGOMA (Ergonomics in Industrial Management) strategy is proposed as a policy for corporate production and employment in countries where ageing populations and reduced birth rates are imminent, and a strategy related to this is proposed. Specifically, as a strategy at the company level, the results of survey studies aimed at the development of methods for determining job capacity, to enable effective use of the labour of ageing workers, were summarized. A number of the insights gained here are steps in the development of a foundational methodology for practical use, and in actual practice a number of these insights must be subjected to measurements. However, the theory and newly developed methodology described here are thought to represent significant changes from the approaches to job capacity diagnosis and assessment published in the past and from the stance towards utilization of an ageing work-force. The author is confident that this represents new progress in one of the ergonomics approach to dealing with the working environment of ageing workers and an ageing work-force in general.
Department of Ergonomics, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka, Japan. m-kuma@med.uoeh-u.ac.jp
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D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D004779:Environment Design; D006804:Ergonomics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation