Occupational Medicine 2006 56(4):286; doi:10.1093/occmed/kqj029
© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
International Congress Series 1280: Assessment and Promotion of Work Ability, Health and Well-Being of Ageing Workers. Edited by G. Costa, W. J. A. Goedhard and J. Ilmarinen. Published by Elsevier, 2005. ISBN 0-444-51989-0. Price: £114. viii + 435 pp.
Peter Wright
This book
contains 74 papers from an international conference held in
October 2004. Most involve the Work Ability Index (WAI). It
sums scores from seven variegated subjective and objective ‘items’
such as the number of current diseases diagnosed by a physician
and the subject's own prognosis of work ability 2 years from
now. The papers largely describe using WAI to define problems
in prolonging the working life of ageing workers by a process
of individualized and general workplace adaptations and health
promotion.
It may not be surprising that WAI only accounts for about half the variance in behaviour such as leaving work. It declines with age, but only by 
10% over the working life, mainly because the variance widens with increasing age. Other personal factors outside WAI, such as family pressures and promotion prospects, also affect decisions older workers make. Firms adopting age management should therefore tailor procedures to individuals, but within an overall envelope of policies and practices aimed at persuading older workers that they are wanted. Nevertheless, blue-collar workers who work shifts and rely upon physical strength, face powerful pressures to retire as soon as family, financial and social pressures allow.
Although WAI has been extensively examined, there are few reported good longitudinal studies that demonstrate its value at a local level and therefore to the occupational physician, though it does encapsulate factors that should be considered in drawing up a local policy and approach. This is a book mainly for those doing research in this field who want to keep up to date with recent research results. It is, as usual, expensive and the admirably speedy production means that there are some errors and infelicity of language.
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