Keeping experience safe: Managing risk in an ageing workforce

As the UK’s workforce grows older, employers must consider how to keep experienced employees working safely for longer. Becky Spencer looks at the key issues to consider.

The UK’s workforce is ageing. Around a third of people currently working are aged 50 or over (11 million people), with 1.6 million people aged over 65 still in employment.

By 2030, estimates suggest that more than half of the UK workforce will be aged 50 or older, and with the state pension age increasing, many of these workers will be aged over 65. In 2024, the average age for workers to leave the labour market reached the highest age since Office of National Statistics (ONS) records began in1984, at 65.7 years for men and 64.5 years for women.

If employers haven’t already begun to consider the implications of this changing demographic for their business, the changing labour market will force them to soon. The benefits for employers of recruiting and retaining skilled and experienced older workers are many, however due to the physical and cognitive changes we all face to varying degrees as we age, do employers need to take extra steps to ensure older people can keep working safely?

Accident rates

Fatal injury statistics released by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) in July could suggest they do. The HSE data shows that from the age of 25 the rate of fatal injuries per 100,000 workers increases by age. Workers aged 60-64 have a fatal injury rate around twice the ‘all ages’ rate and workers aged 65 and over have a fatal injury rate that is four times as high as the ‘all ages’ rate. In 2024/25, 49 of the 124 workers killed in work-related accidents in GB were aged over 60, even though workers aged 60+ made up only 12 per cent of the workforce.

When it comes to non-fatal workplace injuries, which it is known are hugely under-reported, it is harder to definitively say that a higher age leads to more injuries. But what the data does show is that when employees are split into age groups, the rate of non-fatal workplace injuries per 100,000 employees in the groups aged over 55 is significantly higher than in the age groups aged 16-54.

What the data doesn’t show is whether age-related factors played a role in these older workers’ injuries or if they were just working in unsafe workplaces. Research conducted by HSE some years ago found no evidence that older workers have more accidents in the workplace than younger workers, although it did find some evidence that accidents involving older workers are more likely to result in more serious injuries, permanent disabilities or death than for younger workers.

Things to consider

Good occupational safety and health management and risk prevention will help keep workers of all ages safe at work. There is no need to conduct a specific risk assessment just because an employee has reached a certain age (it’s important not to stereotype or discriminate). Risk assessments should be reviewed on an individual basis whenever there is a change in circumstances, such as in the work task or in an employee’s health or fitness – whatever the employee’s age.

Of course, an ageing workforce does mean that more employees will be living with a chronic health condition, such as diabetes and hypertension, but these can now be well controlled with medication and in most cases will not have an impact on safety in the workplace. But ageing can have an impact on bone strength and physical strength, which means older workers can be at greater risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), particularly if they work in physically demanding roles or ones that require repetitive movements such as in manufacturing and construction.

If an employer is concerned about the physical demands of a job, they should consult the worker doing the job before making any changes to it, so they can find out if they need extra support and not just assume it is too physically demanding for them. Many jobs are supported by technology which can absorb the physical strain, and a thorough risk assessment can ensure the right control measures are implemented that can prevent MSDs occurring in the first place and reduce the chance of MSDs a worker already has from getting worse.

And it’s not just the physical demands of a job that need to be considered. A survey of employees with desk-bound jobs who work remotely for all or part of it found that workers aged 55 and over were twice as likely as younger colleagues to report feeling lonely and three-quarters said they struggle with work/life balance when working at home.

Another significant area employers need to consider is driving. Employers have a legal duty to ensure all their drivers, no matter what their age, are fit to drive before they get behind the wheel. And as drivers we all have an individual responsibility to only drive when we are fit to do so. It’s important that older drivers and their employers consider changes associated with ageing that can affect driving ability, such as changes to eyesight, age-related hearing loss, medical conditions and mobility issues. Regular driving assessments for all staff who drive for work are an important part of an organisation’s management of occupational road risk and will ensure driving skills are still up to standard and identify any training or changes needed.

People are living and working longer than ever before. With good risk assessment practices, based on an employee’s individual needs and not their age, there is no reason why these longer working years should be any less safe. Older workers bring such value to an organisation that any changes to the work environment or work they may need are well worth making in order for employers to keep their most skilled and experienced employees.

Develop your skills in managing safety and health in the workplace with our range of NEBOSH courses. For more information, visit: www.rospa.com/shop/health-and-safety-courses/nebosh-courses