Eye glasses or contact lenses are recommended for proper workstation viewing. Schedule an appointment with your optometrist to test your vision

As the Baby Boom generation advances closer and closer to retirement, many companies are currently faced with managing an aging workforce. While it is true that older workers often contribute just as importantly as younger ones, it is also necessary to recognize that as a worker ages, their ergonomic situation changes, and they may develop a new set of needs that must be met in order for them to do their work properly.

To begin with, it is not uncommon for eyesight to decline with age. In many cases, this can be corrected with contact lenses and eyeglasses, but these are not universal solutions to general loss of visual acuity. Employees may have trouble in environments that are poorly lit, as it becomes more difficult to distinguish shapes in the absence of even, bright lighting. This becomes especially important in a warehouse setting, where workers may be driving forklifts or handling cargo and taking inventory. Each of these tasks requires excellent lighting in order to ensure safety and accuracy.

In the same sense, lights that are too bright can more rapidly cause eyestrain for those above a certain age. This makes it important to consider using screen filters for standard computer monitors, or switching to LCD monitors that have a brightness control that can be lowered to a more acceptable level. It’s also important to avoid wearing bifocal lenses while operating computer equipment, as constantly tilting the head to see the screen properly can lead to neck strain¹.

Hearing is another sense which begins to naturally drop off with age. Exposure to the noise generated by industrial machinery and processes can only accelerate hearing loss. It is doubly important to make sure that any older workers are provided with proper hearing protection when exposed to noise above 90 dB for a prolonged period of time. Given that hearing loss may have already occurred naturally, you must ensure that older employees are able to hear all of the audio cues and warning sounds that may be associated with the equipment they are operating. If they cannot pick these sounds out against the background noise that they are faced with, then it may be necessary to implement visual notifications to complement auditory ones¹.

Hearing loss may also impact that ability of an employee to hear and understand spoken instructions, particularly in a noisy environment. If communication via wireless device or telephone is common in the work environment, extra amplification may be required for certain employees in order to make sure that they are able to clearly understand everything that is being said to them¹. This type of hearing loss can also cause workers to be less forthcoming during meetings, as they may not be able to follow the flow of conversation, particularly if people are not facing them while speaking. Employees should be made to feel that they can stop a meeting and ask for clarification if they do not understand what is being said. Other workers should also make sure to properly address employees with hearing loss and speak clearly towards them while interacting.

Sourced from: Mitchell T, n.d. Ergonomics & Aging. Retrieved June 19, 2008 from http://www.working-well.org/articles/pdf/aging.pdf