Health and safety considerations for older construction workers : a literature review

The population has been aging globally in recent decades, leading to an increasingly aging workforce. The previous studies revealed that older workers who worked in the construction industry account for a proportionately huge percentage of all work related illnesses, injuries, and deaths. However, it seems that a systematic review of the research development in the health and safety for older construction workers is lacking. This study aims to review the literature about Work Health and Safety (WHS) for older workers in construction and investigate the research trend. Academic papers published between 1998 and 2018 were identified using the Scopus database. The result revealed a trend of an increasing number of publications in the topic area in the last decade. The contributions of researchers, countries/regions and institutions were analysed and discussed. Researchers applied a variety of research methods in which the quantitative approach and questionnaire survey were the most frequency used methods in this area. The 'WHS risk factors' and 'causes of accidents' were the most popular topics among the research in WHS for older construction workers in the last decades. The findings may contribute to an in-depth understanding of the health and safety issues of older workers in the construction industry and are useful for future research.