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PROMOTION OF WORK ABILITY TOWARDS
PRODUCTIVE AGING
PROMOTION OF WORK
ABILITY TOWARDS
PRODUCTIVE AGING
Selected papers of the 3rd International
Symposium on Work Ability, Hanoi,
Vietnam, 22–24 October 2007
Editor

Masaharu Kumashiro
Department of Ergonomics, University of Occupational and
Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan
Taylor & Francis is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, UK

Typeset by Charon Tec Ltd (A Macmillan Company), Chennai, India

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe (A CPI-group Company), Chippenham, Wiltshire

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Although all care is taken to ensure integrity and the quality of this publication and the information
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persons as a result of operation or use of this publication and/or the information contained herein.

Published by: CRC Press/Balkema

P.O. Box 447, 2300 AK Leiden, The Netherlands
e-mail: [email protected]
www.crcpress.com – www.taylorandfrancis.co.uk – www.balkema.nl

ISBN: 978-0-415-48590-6 (Hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-203-88251-1 (eBook)
 Promotion of Work Ability towards Productive Aging – Kumashiro (ed)
© 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-48590-6

Table of Contents

Preface IX

Chapter 1 Overview
Achievements in Aging and Work “period 1989–2007; Challenges after 2007” 3
W.J. Goedhard
Measures for the aging workforce in Japan from the perspective of the
occupational health, safety and ergonomics 9
M. Kumashiro
The effects of work-related and individual factors on work ability:
A systematic review 15
T.I.J. van den Berg, L.A.M. Elders & A. Burdorf
Systematic review for assessing job demands and physical work capacity
in safety jobs 19
A. Ropponen, J. Smolander & V. Louhevaara

Chapter 2 Work Ability Index

The place of age in organisational policymaking: Evidence from an Australian
qualitative survey 27
L. Brooke, P. Healy, J. Jiang & P. Taylor
Establishment of a Work Ability Index network in Germany 33
H.M. Hasselhorn, B.H. Müller, R. Tielsch, B. Gauggel, G. Freude & J. Tempel
WAI among workers in SMEs at Wholesale, Fruits, Vegetables and
Flower Market in Brazil – from research to action 37
I. Monteiro, K. Tuomi, J. Ilmarinen, J. Seitsamo, E. Tuominen & H.R. Corrêa-Filho
Factors associated to the work ability among Brazilian teachers 41
T.G. Vedovato & I. Monteiro
Factors that predict work ability: Incorporating a measure of organisational
values towards ageing 45
J. Palermo, L. Webber, K. Smith & A. Khor
Effect of Japanese employment system on Work Ability Index 59
M. Tokuhiro, H. Izumi, J.-L. Malo, N. Uehara & M. Kumashiro
Study on work ability of Vietnamese workers in selected industries 65
D.K. Van & N.N. Nga
WAI among young employees in Brazil with new scores 71
I. Monteiro, J. Ilmarinen, K. Tuomi, J. Seitsamo, E.P. Goes, A.P. Fernandes & E.P. Hodge

V
Verifying of the theoretical model of perceived work ability in the
field of teaching 75
V. Louhevaaral & S. Järvelin
An assessment of the Work Ability Index (WAI) and its usefulness in predicting
and promoting continued work in staff employed by a major UK Charity 83
T. Reilly, A. Rees & M. Tipton
Individual and work related determinants of work ability in white-collar workers 89
T.I.J. van den Berg, S.M. Alavinia, F.J. Bredt, D. Lindeboom, L.A.M. Elders & A. Burdorf
Workplace trauma exposure, emotional imbalance and work ability 93
G.P. Fichera, L. Neri, S. Sartori & G. Costa
Work ability and all cause mortality: A 25-year longitudinal study among
Finnish municipal workers 101
J. Seitsamo & R. Martikainen
Impacts from occupational risk factors on self reported reduced work ability
among Danish wage earners 105
L. Sell, A. Faber & K. Søgaard
Work ability and work quality as indicators for a longer and more productive
working life 113
M. Melon, P. Cocco & G. Costa
Disabled people at work and work ability: A study in a Brazilian company 117
E.P. Hodge & I. Monteiro
Work ability of a population of 40+ in Luxembourg 121
N. Majery

Chapter 3 Staying at Work

Older worker career plateau: Issues and remedies 127
P. McCarthy & S. Moore
Can organisations influence employees’ intentions to retire? 133
J. Oakman & Y. Wells
Extending the working life 139
R.G. Goedhard & W.J.A. Goedhard
Pension preferences and work environment 143
M. Stattin
Younger managers and considerably older subordinates 155
I. Johansson
Training older workers and long-term development: Needs and obstacles 161
J.-C. Marquié & L.R. Duarte

Chapter 4 Promotion of Health and Work Ability

Promoting health and workability in Vattenfall AB Nordic, Sweden 169
R.J. Mykletun & T. Furunes

VI
Managers’ decision making latitudes in relation to managing ageing workers 177
T. Furunes & R.J. Mykletun

The DRUVAN-project: A major increase in Occupational Health Service based

on the Metal Age method in a Finnish municipality improved the work ability
and gave significant financial return 183
O. Näsman & G. Ahonen

A study on effects of support systems for KAIZEN in casting production of

non-ferrous alloy by aged foundry workers 191
Y. Mizuno, N. Motegi, M. Sugiura, F. Matsuda, T. Yoshikawa, K. Sakai & T. Misawa

Discovering the treasure: The use of the Work Ability Concept and the WAI
in a bus company within a workplace health promotion process 195
J. Tempel & J. Schramm
Prolonging working life in intellectual work 209
Ü. Kristjuhan

Ergonomic and safe design of railway vehicles for elderly and handicapped
people 213
M. Rentzsch & D. Seliger

Female workers’ superior peculiarity and consideration for aging for the
activation of “super-advanced age and fewer children” society 219
K. Mikami, K. Iida & M. Kumashiro
Usability research on the older person’s ability for Web browsing 227
D. Kobayashi & S. Yamamoto

Chapter 5 Age Affected Functions

Impact of psychosocial work environment factors measured by the COPSOQ
on the need for recovery after work in aging workers. Preliminary results 239
P. Kiss & M. De Meester

Age differences in mental workload while performing visual search task 247
M. Takahara, T. Miura, K. Shinohara & T. Kimura

A study of clinical assessment of Unilateral Spatial Neglect using a Head

Mounted Display system (HMD) for elderly stroke patients in a virtual
reality technology 253
T. Tanaka, S. Ino, T. Ifukube, S. Sugihara, S. Shirogane, Y. Oyama & Y. Maeda

Postural control using a vibratory feedback system for balance

training in the elderly 263
T. Tanaka, S. Ino, T. Ifukube, S. Shirogane, Y. Maeda, Y. Oyama, S. Sugihara & T. Izumi

A study of static and dynamic balance abilities in the elderly 271

Y. Maeda, T. Tanaka, S. Ino, T. Ifukube, S. Shirogane & Y. Oyama
Differences of visual information processing between younger
and aged person 275
K. Yamanaka, Y. Nakanishi & M. Kawakami

VII
Chapter 6 Nurse
Effects of disturbed sleep on work ability and well-being among European nurses 283
D. Camerino, P.M. Conway, S. Sartori & G. Costa
Physical/mental recovery and work ability of nurses in Japan 293
C. Miyamoto, Y. Suenaga, M. Ando, N. Noda, Y. Okui & M. Hashimoto
Relationship between depersonalization syndrome and medical malpractice among
Japanese nurses 299
M. Sugiura, M. Hirosawa, Y. Yamada, Y. Nishi, S. Tanaka & M. Mizuno
Effect of continuous exercise on job stress among Japanese nurses 303
Y. Kawata, Y. Yamada, M. Sugiura, Y. Nishi, M. Mizuno, M. Hirosawa & S. Tanaka
Relation between Typus Melancholicus and burnout among Japanese nurses 307
Y. Yamada, M. Hirosawa, M. Sugiura, Y. Nishi, S. Tanaka & M. Mizuno
Relationship between depression and depersonalization among Japanese nurses 311
S. Tanaka, M. Sugiura, M. Hirosawa, Y. Yamada, Y. Nishi & M. Mizuno
Effect of obsessive personality traits and impulsiveness on obsessive-compulsive
disorder and eating disorders among hospital nurses 315
Y. Nishi, M. Hirosawa, M. Sugiura, Y. Yamada, S. Tanaka & M. Mizuno
Work-family balance and stressors among Japanese administrative nurses 319
M. Mizuno, Y. Yamada, M. Hirosawa, M. Sugiura, Y. Nishi, Y. Kawata & S. Tanaka

Chapter 7 Others
Time constraints and age: Health impact on musculoskeletal problems and
perceived health 325
B. Norma, S. Rosa & S. Francesco
Age-related differences in insurance claim rates for work-related injuries and
diseases for different occupations and industry sectors 331
K. Munk, P. Congdon & W. Macdonald
Age-related differences in patterns of return to work and compensation costs
following work-related injury or illness 343
K. Munk, P. Congdon & W. Macdonald

Keyword Index 355

Author Index 357

VIII
 Promotion of Work Ability towards Productive Aging – Kumashiro (ed)
© 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-48590-6

Preface

This publication is a collection of selected papers from the 3rd International Symposium on Work
Ability—Promotion of Work Ability Towards a Productive Aging, which is an international con-
ference that was held for three days from Monday, October 22 to Wednesday, October 24, 2007.
This conference was planned by the ICOH Scientific Committee for Aging and Work (ICOH SC
for Aging and Work) and was jointly sponsored with the IEA Technical Committee for Aging,
Vietnam Association of Occupational Health, and Department of Ergonomics, Institute of Indus-
trial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health (UOEH), Japan.
The ICOH SC for Aging and Work was founded in 1989. Since its founding the ICOH SC for
Aging and Work has held two international conferences. The first was the International Conference
on Aging and Work. The first Conference was held in The Hague in 19901 ), the second one was
held in Helsingor, Denmark2 ) in 1998, the third in Kitakyushu, Japan3 ) in 2001, and the fourth in
Krakow, Poland in 2002. The other was the International Symposium on Work Ability. The first
Symposium on Work Ability was organized in Tampere, Finland in September 20014 ). The second
Symposium on Work Ability was organized in Verona, Italy in October 20015 ), and irregularly
held workshops on aging workforces have also been held For example,6 ). With the exception of the
conference in Krakow, the proceedings of all ICOH SC for Aging and Work conferences have been
published to propose measures for aging workforce societies from the standpoint of occupational
health and ergonomics and other areas of the social sciences. The first ICOH SC for Aging and
Work chairman is W. J. Goedhard. The first paper in this publication, Achievements in Aging and
Work “Period 1989-2007; challenges after 2007”, uses the history of this conference to introduce
readers to challenge of an aging workforce from an occupational health perspective.
The aging workforce issues addressed by the occupational health and ergonomics fields are of
particular interest to the well developed regions. Many of these areas are European countries in
Northern Europe, and in Asia it is Japan that is actively working on these issues. In view of this,
Vietnam in Southeast Asia was selected as the conference location for the ICOH SC for Aging
and Work. There was a reason for holding the conference in Vietnam. The reason is that it is
forecast that in the near future Asia will be unable to avoid the issue of aging workforces. The
problems related to an aging workforce differ among countries. For example, Japan is dealing with
an aging society with a low birthrate, which is reducing the working population and increasing the
ratio of aging workers in the productive age population. This demographic distortion is impacting
the foundation of the pension system. In response, the labor administration is working to create
an employment environment where people work until age 70. In particular, Japan is working to
improve the workplace. Europe, on the other hand, is concentrating on human resources and work
ability evaluation methods for their extension. Differences can also be seen in “work ability”, which
was used in the title of this publication, between Japan and Europe in how the evaluation results
are used. This publication addresses in a major way the Work Ability Index (WAI) as an index for
evaluating work ability. This was developed by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health as a
tool for evaluating work ability of workers. The ICOH SC for Aging and Work has promoted the
use of this index through international conferences, publications and other means and construction
of an international database based on this index. As a result, today the WAI is used in 25 languages.
WAI is becoming an international and multi-cultural technique. However, to advance the promotion
of work ability, which is the subtitle of this publication, how to use work ability evaluations and
how to achieve the sought after productive aging must be studied. Currently, unfortunately, there is
a major gap between Japan and Europe regarding how the evaluation obtained from WAI is used.
Europe appears to be using this index to say, “You have this much work ability, so please continue

IX
working instead of retiring early.” On the other hand, Japan is using this index to allow workers
to say, “I have this much work ability, so please allow me to continue working without making
me retire because of my calendar age.” This publication is a collection of papers that discuss from
a variety of angles the goal of developing a truly international standard tool that can be used in
common internationally taking into account differences in circumstances among countries. It is our
hope that soon there will be a common guideline that exceeds national and regional boundaries that
can be used for the diagnostic evaluation of work ability and employability. In conclusion, I wish
to thank Mr. Jean-Luc Malo for the great effort he demonstrated in editing this publication. The
majority of the time he spent as an assistant professor in my department was devoted to the work
of holding this conferences and editing the corresponding papers. This publication is the result of
his efforts. I also wish to thank Mr. Osami Hagiwara, president of Alphacom, for picking up where
Mr. Jean-Luc Malo left off and assisting in the organization and editing of the transcripts for this
publication.
References: Materials issued by the ICOH SC for Aging and Work
1. AGING AND WORK, Willem J.A. Goedhard, 1992, ICOH Scientific Committee “Aging and
Work”, Den Haag, ISBN 90-9005032-9
2. Experimental Aging Research, Jeffrey W. Elias, Vol.25, No.4, 1999, Taylor & Francis, USA,
ISSN 0361-073X
3. AGING AND WORK, Masaharu Kumashiro, 2003, London: Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-415-
27478-8
4. Past, Present and Future of Work Ability, -Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on
Work Ability- , Juhani Ilmarinen, Suvi Lehtinen, 2004, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health,
Helsinki, ISBN 951-802-581-9
5. Assessment and Promotion of Work Ability, Health and Well-being of Ageing Workers, -
Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Work Ability held in Verona, Italy between
18 and 20 October 2004-, Giovanni Costa, Willem J.A. Goedhard, Juhani Ilmarinen, 2005,
Elsevier, The Netherlands, ISBN 0-444-51989-0
6. AGING AND WORK 4, -Healthy and Productive Aging of Older Employees-, Willem J.A.
Goedhard, 2000, ICOH Scientific Committee “Aging and Work”, The Netherlands, ISBN 90-
803145-3-6

Masaharu Kumashiro, PhD,

Professor of University of Occupational
and Environmental Health (UOEH), Japan
Chairman of ICOH Scientific Committee for Aging and Work

X
Chapter 1 Overview
 Promotion of Work Ability towards Productive Aging – Kumashiro (ed)
© 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-48590-6

Achievements in Aging and Work “period 1989–2007;

Challenges after 2007”

Willem J. Goedhard
The Netherlands Foundation of Occupational Health and Aging, Middelburg, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT: The Scientific Committee “Aging and Work” of The Int. Commission on Occupa-
tional Health (ICOH) was raised in 1989. Since the beginning the activities of the committee and
its members have been growing resulting in many fruitful workshops, symposiums and a series of
conference proceedings.
The following officers of the committee were nominated by the Board of ICOH: Prof. (em.)
Willem J.A. Goedhard (Middelburg, The Netherlands) as chairman and Prof. Juhani Ilmari-
nen (Helsinki, Finland) as secretary. In 2005 these officers were succeeded by Prof. Masaharu
Kumashiro (Kitakyushu, Japan) as chaiman and Prof. Clas-Håkan Nygård (Tampere, Finland) as
secretary.
Aim of the committee: To preserve health and work ability of aging employees.

The committee focuses on:

• Older Employees
• Studies on the relationship of Work Environment and the Aging Process of employees
• Studies about the changes in Work Ability of aging employees

Early developments: In the period before the start of the committee attention for older employees,
for example during ICOH congresses was relatively small. This is possibly an indication that age-
associated changes of worker’s health were considered of little importance. Research concerning
aging or age associated topics in occupational health was usually aimed at physiological changes
in work capacity.
From the beginning of the work of the committee research was more directed towards the
challenges that were emerging from foreseeable aging of the workforces. This implied attention for
prevention aspects of diseases, the importance of the aging process on the performance of aging
workers and the relation between aging and mental capacity. Furthermore much research was
dedicated towards aspects of (early) retirement. Also aspects of work stress in relation to worker’s
age were receiving closer attention.
It became clear that research concerning aging workers was explained rather differently in many
countries possibly due to the different problems prevailing in these countries.
Work ability and aging: A major break-through was the development and gradual implementation
of the work ability index (WAI) by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki. This
questionnaire was translated in many languages and very soon study results emerged in which the
WAI had been applied. The various study results among different cultures showed that the WAI
was a valuable instrument to determine a worker’s ability to perform his/her job. Cross-sectional
studies with the WAI showed negative trends of WAI scores in relation to age. However it became
obvious that the work ability rate with age is relatively small explaining only about 5–10% of the
variance of WAI. It can therefore be concluded that other variables, such as endurance capacity, are
contributing considerably more to the level of work ability than calendar age. The scatter of WAI
scores increases with advancing age.
3
 Challenges after 2007: With a greater number of older participants in tomorrow’s workforces
much knowledge about aging will be needed among Occupational Health (OH) physicians and OH
personnel. Special programs aimed at older workers will have to be developed. No doubt the WAI
will be a helpful instrument. Main activities will have to be directed towards age management.
Then, it will be important to control prevention of chronic diseases which usually have detrimental
effects on work ability. Last but not least control of excess job stress will be required since work
stress may negatively affect aging and work ability.

1 ICOH SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE “AGING AND WORK” FROM 1989 TO 2007

During the 20th century life expectancy increased considerably, not only at birth but also life
expectancies at advanced ages (Fries, 1983). Improved living and working conditions theoretically
allowed longer and more productive work lives. However, opposite developments were observed
in many developed countries. Instead of retirement at 65 years, the retirement age that was already
established during the 19th century; in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century shrinking of manpower in
many industrialized countries was observed. Much unemployment followed and with financial aid
of governments workers were entitled to early retirement around the age of 60 or even earlier (Reday-
Mulvay, 2005). These developments were leading to the paradox of increased and improved life
expectancies and health the percentages of people working beyond 60 years decreased considerably.
Yet it could be foreseen that these developments had to reach a limit since another important
development was observed, i.e. decreased birth rates in many countries. This would no doubt lead
in the near future to shortages of manpower and the return of older workers in the workforces.
This was more or less the situation in the beginning of the 1980s. An illustration of the situation is
minimal attention for age-associated aspects of occupational health at that time (e.g. at the ICOH
congress in 1984 in Dublin) only a few papers were dealing with topics pertaining to the aging
process of workers: There was only one session on Aging, chaired by Prof. Asa Kilbom (Sweden)
that comprised two papers related to aging (one from Finland by Ilmarinen et al. and one from the
Netherlands by Goedhard et al.).
In 1987 I wrote a letter to the late Professor Murray the president of the ICOH in which
I suggested to raise a scientific committee that would concentrate on matters of aging in the
working population. Professor Murray wrote 27th August 1987 “. . . My own personnel interest
in the subject derives from the fact that I believe it is very useful to continue working as you get
older. It is those who do not have a consuming interest, either in their work or in equally important
leisure activity who die early. I can recognize that older people some times have to step aside to
allow younger people to be promoted, but in many cases a life time of experience is wasted if they
are merely given a retirement pension”.
The board of ICOH responded positively and in 1989 the scientific committee “Aging and Work”
was raised and officially started in Helsinki by prof. Sven Hernberg, president of ICOH. Nominated
as officers of the committee were: myself as chairman and Prof. Juhani Ilmarinen (Finland) has
secretary. The aim of the committee was to preserve health and work ability of aging employees.
I am much obliged to my colleague Juhani Ilmarinen with whom I was able to work together for
many years. We had many stimulating discussions and were able to organize a series of international
workshops and conferences (see Table 1).
The committee focuses on: Health of Older Employees, Studies on the relationship of Work Envi-
ronment and the Aging Process (bridging the gap between occupational health and gerontology),
and Studies about changes in Work Ability of older employees.
Aging of the population – Some consequences of population aging are:
(1) Aging of the workforce
(2) Changes in retirement policies
(3) Increased numbers of disabled workers
Is aging of the workforce a problem? – (J-F. Caillard, former President of ICOH, 1994) wrote “. . .
the survival of greater numbers of people into old age has great consequences for the health of the
4
 Table 1. List of venues of workshops and conferences under the auspices of the ICOH
scientific committee “Aging and Work” between 1989 and 2007

1990 The Hague (Netherlands) Aging and Work

1992 Haikko (Finland) Aging and Work
1994 Wijk aan Zee (Netherlands) Aging and Work
1994 Kitakyushu (Japan) Paths to Productive Aging
1996 Stockholm (Sweden) Work after 45?
1998 Helsingor (Denmark) Aging and Work
1999 The Hague (Netherlands) Aging and Work
2001 Tampere (Finland) Work Ability
2001 Kitakyushu (Japan) Aging and Work
2002 Krakow (Poland) Aging and Work
2004 Verona (Italy) Work Ability
2007 Hanoi (Vietnam) Work Ability

labor force, as many remain in employment with the deficiencies and disabilities that accompany
ageing”.
Early developments – The start of the new ICOH committee: “Aging and Work” in 1989 was
certainly not the beginning of research interests in older workers’ problems. In social gerontology
much earlier than 1989 researchers were interested in topics concerning older workers. An example
is the publication of a book in 1970: by professor Harold Sheppard (USA): He was White House
counselor on aging in the Carter Administration (end of the 70s). In 1970 he edited and published
a book “Towards an industrial gerontology, an introduction to a new field of applied research &
service”: This book was considered of particular use for personnel management.
A balance should be maintained between exertion of capabilities and performance (Sheppard,
1970). An important conclusion was: “it may someday be proven (or convincingly argued) that
continued activity in some form of work (compensated or not) is an important way in which to slow
down the process of aging”.
In the Netherlands important research on aging workers was done by Dirken and co-workers
(1972). They concentrated on physiological aspects of aging which led to the concept of func-
tional age that may differ from calendar age in many people. Johan Dirken (Netherlands): 1970:
Publication of his book “Functional Age of Industrial Workers: Functional age: i.e. measurable
characteristics of an individual vs. his functioning in a physically or socially determined (work)
environment (Dirken, 1972).
Finally, in Jan Baart (1973) wrote a thesis about older dock workers. One of his conclusions was
“Older dock laborers should be allowed to adjust their work speed.
What is an older worker? – The committee focuses on older workers. The question arises what
is an older worker? Without giving some exact definition it is mores sensible to provide some
characteristics of an older worker. It is now generally accepted that the following characteristics
are appropriate:
• Older than 45 years [1996: congress in Stockholm: theme: “Work after 45?”, At this congress
Hjort (1997) proposed an official retirement age of 70 years].
• In the final third of professional career.
• Age-associated changes which may affect work ability.
• Increasing risk of chronic diseases.
• Aging of professional skills and knowledge.
• More experienced.

2 HIGHLIGHTS FROM CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS

Below I will shortly refer to some highlights of conferences and Workshops as indicated in Table 1.
The selection of papers is very much subjective.
5
WorkAbility Index (WAI) – This questionnaire which was developed and introduced in Finland by
researchers of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health can be considered an important break-
through in the international research on aging workers. (1992: Haikko) Ilmarinen and Tuomi (1993):

• Work Ability Index for Aging Workers: Report on a longitudinal study that started 1981 on 6,257
workers (45–58 years).
• It took some more years before WAI was introduced in other countries.
• The presentation of the WAI was followed by the launch of the concept of “age management”.

These developments allowed the study of aging workers in different countries with the application
of a standardized instrument. In the meantime this has been proven a very useful development. The
WAI has been translated in many languages and is used in many countries. The results of studies
with WAI have given rise to the organization of several international conferences, like Tampere
(2001); Verona (2004) and Hanoi (2007).
Age Management – It has clearly been demonstrated by Ilmarinen (1999) that good age manage-
ment is a very useful tool in order to maintain employability of aging workers. Age Management
implies promotion of Work Ability. It is one of the main objectives of the committee Aging and
Work to disseminate this view among employers and employees. Is this necessary? The answer is
Yes, because:

• In the EU it was decided: [EU summit conferences in Barcelona 2002, Stockholm 2001] to the
2010 objectives: i.e.
• More than 50% of the 55–64 yr old population should be active in the workforces.
• Reduction of early retirement policies.
• Age of retirement to be increased to 65 years in all EU countries.

It is rather questionable whether the EU targets will be realized. In the Netherlands it was found
that employees and employers are not in favor of extending the working life (van Dalen et al., 2005).
Most employees expect to work till 62 years. Most employers consider extending the working life
of their employees to 65 years as undesirable.
The central issue here is the question whether older workers will be able to continue working.
At the conference in Stockholm (1996) an important contribution to this discussion was presented
by Salthouse: “Implications of adult age differences in cognition for Work Performance needed”
(1997). There is little relation between age and measures of work performance. This conclusion is
consonant with Dirken (1972).
The good news is: Increased age is not a liability in most employment situations. However the
“bad news” is: age-related decline in cognitive abilities is to be expected.
An important aspect of Age management is the maintenance of knowledge and professional
skills. This requires continuous learning which may become difficult in case of reduced cognitive
abilities.
An important contribution at the conference in Helsingor 1998 was by Näsman & Ilmarinen
(1999): “Metal-Age: A process for improving well being and productivity. Methods for starting
interventions in enterprises e.g. improvement of the work organization: The important key words
are: participatory planning, i.e. finding solutions together. This method derives to get more atten-
tion. It is applied to find the most crucial development targets of well-being at work. This is
comprehensively discussed in the publication: “Well-being creates productivity” (Rissa, 2007).
The problems of aging workforces are not limited to Europe or the USA. Also Asian countries
have to deal with reduced birth rates and subsequently aging workforces. For example in Japan
the age group 55–64 year old workers was estimated to increase from 15.5% of the population in
1990 to 20.8% in 2010. Kumashiro described a strategy to retain productive aging. Key aspects in
this strategy are: estimation of functional age, maintenance of Work Ability and an optimum work
motivation (Kumashiro, 1999). Winn (1999) pleaded for a more efficient use of older workers in
the United States. He indicated that social minorities are more likely than non-minorities to retire
6
early because of poor health. Yet many work longer than the normal retirement age in order to
maintain their living standards.
Vitality – Vitality is not a usual biological concept. In many Gerontology textbooks the word is
often not indexed. The word expresses something like energy or “vital force” (i.e. the power to live
or go on living. At a conference in The Netherlands in 2006 (Wijffels, 2003) stated that that modern
societies should invest in vitality of elderly people and the community. Elderly people should be
enabled to participate actively and enjoy a high quality of life. This will imply that there should not
be any age limit to education.
Work Ability of men and women – Application of the WAI in several countries has resulted in
numerous studies among workers in many countries. Differences between workers in different
professions were visualized. Also gender differences in work ability can become clear. In an
evaluation of functional working capacity by the WAI in Italian workers it was found that female
workers have lower WAI scores than men and workers under stress (strain) are more prone to
decrease in fitness and work ability (Costa et al., 1999). An important comprehensive study is
the NEXT study (nurses early exit study). This study that was setup in nine European countries
among 40,000 nurses and provided better understanding of the variables contributing to work ability
scores. Camerino et al. (2005) showed that stress factors like harassment at work (uncertainty about
treatment), low job control, and high job demands, tend to give low WAI scores and job alienation.

3 CHALLENGES AFTER 2007

It can be reasoned that in many industrialized countries more older workers (60–65 + yrs) will
re-enter the workforces. Extending the working life is an important challenge for occupational
health physicians in the future. They will have to deal more than in the recent past with increases of
age-associated disorders (risk of disability). Disability rates will possibly increase. It will become
more difficult to maintain skills and knowledge of these aging workers. It must also be realized
that age-associated declines in cognitive abilities (Salthouse, 1997) may affect the possibilities of
workers to keep up with new developments in their profession. The key-item is employability. This
is preceded by promotion of work ability (Ilmarinen, 1999). An other important aspect of work in
modern societies is the level of perceived stress. It is therefore essential to realize that on-going
work ability control and on-going stress control are warranted in order to maintain employability
of older workers.
Variability in work ability – Work ability has the tendency to decrease with advancing age. In
cross-sectional studies usually negative trends are observed in WAI scores of the studied population
(Goedhard, 2004). The scatter in observed WAI scores also changes over time resulting in increased

50
45
40
WAI
47.9  0,14  age
35 R2
0,91 (p.01)
30
25
20
15
10 Variance
0,84  age  9,6
5 R2
0,71 (p.05)
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Age (years)

Figure 1. WAI-score mean and variance per 5-years age-group

7
variances of WAI scores (see Figure 1). This implies that differences between workers increase
with advancing age.
Work stress control and age – Based on earlier observations the preliminary conclusion was
reached that perceived work stress increases with age. Will older workers be able to cope with
these stresses? What could be the negative outcomes of work stress? An other conclusion was
that baroreflex function is possibly affected by work stress (Goedhard, 1993). Recently it was
found that prolonged stress affected telomere length in caregivers. Women with the highest levels
of perceived stress have telomeres shorter on average by the equivalent of at least one decade of
additional aging compared to low stress women (Epel et al., 2004). These findings have implications
for understanding how, at the cellular level, stress may promote earlier onset of age-related diseases.
Such findings illustrate the serious effects of work stresses on important biological systems.

REFERENCES

Baart, J., (1973). De oudere havenwerker (the older dock worker) (Dutch). Thesis, Erasmus University,
Rotterdam
Caillard, J.F., (1995). In: Cox, R.A.F. et al. (eds) Fitness for Work. Oxford University Press, Oxford, Foreword,
pp. iv–v
Costa, G. et al., (2000). Evaluation of functional working capacity by the work ability index in Italian workers.
In : Goedhard, W.J.A. (editor), Aging and Work 4, ICOH SC Aging and Work, printed: Pasmans, The Hague,
pp. 53–61
Dirken, J.M. (editor), (1972). Functional Age of Industrial Workers. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen,
Netherlands
Epel, E.S. et al., (2004). Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress. Proceedings National
Academy of Sciences; 101/49: pp. 17312–17315
Fries, J.F., (1983). Compression of morbidity. The Milbank memorial fund Quarterly 61/3: pp. 397–419
Goedhard, W.J.A., (1993). Work stress and the aging process. 24th Int. Congress ICOH, Nice, France, Book
of Abstract, pp. 67
Goedhard, W.J.A., (2004). WAI scores and its different items in relation to age: a study in two industrial
companies in the Netherlands. In: Ilmarinen, j. and Lehtinen, S. (editors). Past, Present and Future of Work
Ability, FIOH, Helsinki, Research Reports 65: pp. 26–40
Hjort, P.F., (1997). Age and Work-good or bad for whom? In: Kilbom, Å et al. (editors), Work after 45? Arbete
och Hälsa, 29: pp. 3–13
Ilmarinen, J., and Tuomi, K., (1993). Work ability index fora ging workers. In: Ilmarinen, J. (editor), Aging
and Work, Finn. Inst. Occup. Health, Helsinki, pp. 142–151
Ilmarinen, J., (1999). Ageing workers in the European Union. Status and promotion of work ability,
employability and employment, Finn. Inst. Occupational Health, Helsinki.
Kumashiro, M., (1999). Strategy and actions for achieving productive aging in Japan. Experimental Aging
Research, 25/4: pp. 461–470, 379–384
Näsman, O., and Ilmarinen, J., (1999). Metal-Age: A process for improving well being and productivity.
Experimental Aging Research, 25/4: pp. 379–384
Reday-Mulvey, (2005). Working beyond 60. Key policies and Practices in Europe, Palgrave MacMillan,
New York
Rissa, K., (2007). Well-being creates productivity (the Druvan model). Centre for Occupational Safety,
Helsinki, pp. 80. ISBN: 978-951-810-340-3 (PDF) http://www.tsr.fi/files/Julkaisut2007/wellbeing produc-
tivity. pdf (valid fev. 2007)
Sheppard, H.L. (editor), (1970). Towards an Industrial Gerontology. Schenkma Publ., Cambridge, Mass.
Salthouse, T.M., (1997). Implications of adult age differences in cognition for work performance. In: Kilbom, Å
et al. Work after 45? Arbete och Hälsa, 29: pp. 15–28
Van Dalen, H.P. et al., (2005). The double standard in attitudes toward retirement- the case in the Netherlands.
The Geneva Papers, Palgrave MacMillan, 30/4: pp. 693–710
Wijffels, H., (2006). Investeer in de vitaliteit van mensen en de samenleving (Dutch). In: Tielen, G. and
Dortland, B (editors). Van Nazorg naar voorzorg, Kon. Holl. Maatsch. Der Wtrenschappen, Haarlem,
Netherlands, pp. 19–28
Winn, F., (1999). Structural impediments to the efficient use of older workers in the United States. Experimental
Aging Research, 25/4: pp. 451–459

8
 Promotion of Work Ability towards Productive Aging – Kumashiro (ed)
© 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-48590-6

Measures for the aging workforce in Japan from the perspective

of the occupational health, safety and ergonomics

Masaharu Kumashiro
Department of Ergonomics, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and
Environmental Health, Kitakyusyu, Japan

ABSTRACT: The aging of population has major repercussions on the workforce population. The
basic issues of such an aging workforce society that must considered from the perspective of the
occupational health, safety and ergonomics are (1) enhancing the health resources of the citizenry,
(2) human resources management that includes setting wages and benefits based on objective
evaluation of workability and employability, and (3) work and working environment management
focusing on job design that takes aging workers into account. To resolve these issues requires
making an employment environment in which employer and employees can work comfortably
without being conscious of calendar age while maintaining the high labor productivity that can
be thus created. This is to create a so-called “age free” workplace. The core strategy for creating
an age free workplace is to avoid as much as possible mismatches between work ability and the
job requirements placed on the workers. To do this, how work ability is evaluated and the factors
that hinder maintaining and increasing work ability must be identified. At the same time, working
conditions and working environment that allow the work ability acquired by workers to be fully
utilized must be created (set). In this paper, the former is positioned as a strategy at the company
level. In particular, the difference from the West of the work ethic held by Japan has given birth to
employability that is unique to Japan. An evaluation for the Japanese style work ability that is the
source for this must be considered. On the other hand, the later is positioned as a strategy at the
workplace level, and it can be used to weigh the actual condition of Japanese company KAIZEN
activities. This will also serve as a reference for strategies that support future workplaces.

1 JAPAN AND THE AGING WORKFORCE SOCIETY

The average lifespan for Japanese people announced in 2005 was 78.53 years for men and 85.49
years for women. For men, this figure is second to that of Iceland, while women live longer
in Japan than anywhere else. Compared to the figures for 1950 (58 and 61.5, respectively), the
average lifespan has lengthened by more than 20 years for both men and women. Meanwhile, the
productive-age population peaked in 1995, after which the trend has been toward decline. According
to projected population statistics released in 2002, the productive-age population comprised 66.4%
of the total Japanese population in 2005. This is estimated to fall to 58.5% in 2030. Focusing on
middle-aged and older workers aged 45 and over, the percentage has increased since 1990, and
in particular, a dramatic increase is foreseen for 2015 and after. Japan has truly entered the era of
an aging society with a low birthrate. One can relate to the negative aspects of this phenomenon
when observing it from the viewpoint of maintaining a productive-age population. This means
that 4.1 million people between the ages of 60 and 64, or about 2/3 of that age group, will have
to be working in 2010 in order to maintain a productive-age population between ages 15 and 60
comparable to that in 1998 (58.7 million). Similarly, by 2015, everyone up to age 64 and 10% of
the over-65 population will have to be working.
In 1973, the Japanese government set the target retirement age at 60, and subsequently examined
legislating this target, which in 1994 became law. The next step was the start in 1999 of a campaign
9
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