Demographic Change and its Implications for Ergonomic Standardization

Companies in different industries are facing the same challenge: demographic change. This leads to a need for action in the field of industrial engineering. At the same time, many of the ergonomic standards were written many years ago, when demographic change was not really an issue. The aim of this paper is to investigate the status quo of standards, which should cover the specific requirements of older workforce. Therefore a three step approach was conducted: First, the changes, which humans go through when they get older, are elaborated based on an extensive literature review. Based on that, age-critical factors that should be covered in ergonomic standards are derived. Second existing standards that cover workplace design were collated and finally the need for action within these standards was elaborated. The paper closes with eight steps, which should together enable ergonomic standards with respect to demographic change.