Absence and Disability Management Practices for an Aging Workforce

The goal of Disability and Absence Management programming is to limit absence, control costs, and retain workers to maintain a productive workforce. This can include the development of supportive policies (e.g. flexible work options), manager and employee education, supportive benefit programs, return to work programs, among others. Increasingly, older workers have become a group of interest among Absence and Disability Management professionals, in part because many baby boomers are forgoing retirement and working longer. Projections suggest that by 2020 those 55 and over could account for 25% of workers. This shift is especially important given that disability prevalence increases with age – as the workforce ages, organizations will increasingly need to ensure their programming supports older workers. During the fall and winter of 2012-13, Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute and the Disability Management Employer Coalition (DMEC) collaborated on a survey and key informant interviews with DMEC members and conference attendees to learn more about what organizations are doing to respond to and prepare for an aging workforce

An inquiry into the theory, causes and consequences of monitoring indicators of health and safety at work

This paper engages in an interdisciplinary survey of the current state of knowledge related to the theory, determinants and consequences of occupational safety and health (OSH). First, it synthesizes the available theoretical frameworks used by economists and psychologists to understand the issues related to the optimal provision of OSH in the labour market. Second, it reviews the academic literature investigating the correlates of a comprehensive set of OSH indicators, which portray the state of OSH infrastructure (social security expenditure, prevention, regulations), inputs (chemical and physical agents, ergonomics, working time, violence) and outcomes (injuries, illnesses, absenteeism, job satisfaction) within workplaces. Third, it explores the implications of the lack of OSH in terms of the economic and social costs that are entailed. Finally, the survey identifies areas of future research interests and suggests priorities for policy initiatives that can improve the health and safety of workers

Employment of People with Disabilities and Ergonomic Risk Factors at Workplace

The importance of employment to people with disabilities has been increasing in recent years. Participation in working life as active producers has been the main factor in community integration of people with disabilities. It has been proven that if people with disabilities are given the opportunity to develop and use their working capacity, they can be as successful as those who do not have any disabilities, and nowadays the most rational way of helping people with disabilities is to provide them with profession and work. Vocational rehabilitation is a process that helps someone to overcome the barriers when beginning to work, continuing to work, or returning to work after any accident, illness, or disorder. Although the employee is selected according to his/her ability according to the work to be done, it is very important that the place to work matches the physical and psychological characteristics of the employee. Ergonomics is important at working life as it affects productivity. Many different ergonomic risk factors are available to affect the quality of life of a person at workplace. This chapter focuses on the employment of people with disabilities, the risk factors they may face at workplace and assessment of risk factors

An Inquiry into the Theory, Causes and Consequences of Monitoring Indicators of Health and Safety at Work

This paper engages in an interdisciplinary survey of the current state of knowledge related to the theory, determinants and consequences of occupational safety and health (OSH). First, it synthesizes the available theoretical frameworks used by economists and psychologists to understand the issues related to the optimal provision of OSH in the labour market. Second, it reviews the academic literature investigating the correlates of a comprehensive set of OSH indicators, which portray the state of OSH infrastructure (social security expenditure, prevention, regulations), inputs (chemical and physical agents, ergonomics, working time, violence) and outcomes (injuries, illnesses, absenteeism, job satisfaction) within workplaces. Third, it explores the implications of the lack of OSH in terms of the economic and social costs that are entailed. Finally, the survey identifies areas of future research interests and suggests priorities for policy initiatives that can improve the health and safety of workers.health, safety, indicators, accidents, diseases, absenteeism

HR’s Role in Managing Disability in the Workplace

It is estimated that there are 43 million Americans with disabilities, many of whom are significantly unemployed or underemployed compared with their nondisabled peers. This article describes the role of employers, management, and especially the HR professional in minimizing disability discrimination. It describes the findings of a recent study of private and federal sector employers’ responses to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and other disability nondiscrimination legislation, and points to areas that this research indicates are ways to successfully maximize the integration of people with disabilities into the workplace

Workforce challenges: 'inclusive design' for organizational sustainability

Today's challenge for workforce management lies in providing a healthy, safe and productive working culture where people are valued, empowered and respected. Workforce diversity is becoming an essential aspect of the global workforce, and ageing is the most prominent and significant factor in this regard. Diversity brings many opportunities and challenges, as workers with different backgrounds, cultures, working attitudes, behaviours and age work together, and in future, the key to organizational effectiveness and sustainability will heavily depend on developing and sustaining inclusive work environments where people with their differences can co-exist safely and productively. Manufacturing organizations expect the highest levels of productivity and quality, but unfortunately the manufacturing system design process does not take into account human variability issues caused by age, skill, experience, attitude towards work etc. This thesis focuses on proposing an inclusive design methodology to address the design needs of a broader range of the population. However, the promotion and implementation of an inclusive design method is challenging due to the lack of relevant data and lack of relevant tools and methods to help designers. This research aims to support the inclusive design process by providing relevant data and developing new design methodologies. The inclusive design methodology suggested in this thesis is a three step approach for achieving a safe and sustainable work environment for workers, with special concern for older workers. The methodology is based on the provision of relevant human capabilities data, the capture and analysis of difference in human behaviour and the use of this knowledge in a digital human modelling tool. The research is focused on manual assembly through a case study in the furniture manufacturing industry and joint mobility data from a wide-ranging population has been analysed and the task performing strategies and behaviours of workers with different levels of skills have been recorded and analysed. It has been shown that joint mobility significantly decreases with age and disability and that skilful workers are likely to adopt safer and more productive working strategies. A digital human modelling based inclusive design strategy was found to be useful in addressing the design needs of older workers performing manufacturing assembly activities. This strategy validates the concept of using human capabilities data for assessing the level of acceptability of any adopted strategy for older workers, and suggests that the strategies adopted by skilful workers are more likely to be equally acceptable for older and younger workers keeping in view differences in their joint mobility. The overall purpose of this thesis is to present a road map towards the promotion and implementation of the inclusive design method for addressing workforce challenges and in future the same strategies might be implemented within a variety of other industrial applications. The proposed three step inclusive design methodology and getting a reasonable understanding of human variability issues along with the use of human capabilities data (joint mobility in this case) in a human modelling system for design assessment at a pre-design stage can be considered as the major contributions of this research

A Universalist strategy for the design of Assistive Technology

Assistive Technologies are specialized products aiming to partly compensate for the loss of autonomy experienced by disabled people. Because they address special needs in a highly-segmented market, they are often considered as niche products. To improve their design and make them tend to Universality, we propose the EMFASIS framework (Extended Modularity, Functional Accessibility, and Social Integration Strategy). We first elaborate on how this strategy conciliates niche and Universalist views, which may appear conflicting at first sight. We then present three examples illustrating its application for designing Assistive Technologies: the design of an overbed table, an upper-limb powered orthose and a powered wheelchair. We conclude on the expected outcomes of our strategy for the social integration and participation of disabled people

Inclusive Economic Strategy For People With Disabilities: Proactive Management, Organizational Change: A Reasoned Approach to Disability

The answers to the problem of employment of people with a disability in businesses have often focused on social issues. However, the context which determines the inclusion process mainly depends on project management within organizations. Our purpose is the analysis of favorable factors in management strategies and approaches to people with disabilities

Focusing on human factors while designing a BMI room

International audienceThe research in Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs), although in rapid expansion, must still be considered at the experimental level since no widely available BMI system exists for helping people with motor disabilities in everyday life. Transferring BMI applications from laboratories to dedicated clinical services - and later to patient homes - implies, first of all, the specification of perfectly adapted experimental conditions including all the human factors. Our paper surveys various criteria that must be taken into account while designing a room dedicated to BMI experimentation from the ergonomic point of view, as well as adapted experimental protocols. This related work emphasizes the need and the complexity of a global and multidisciplinary approach which places human factors at the centre of the concerns