An Exploration of Demographic Background, Work Environment and Situations of Workplace Safety and Health among Middle-Aged and Elderly Workers in Taiwan: Comparative analyses of Multi-Sectoral Government Survey Data

Aging work force is an important issue in many countries including Taiwan. There are few systematic analyses on demographic/social distribution, employment and work conditions, as well as OHS needs of middle-aged and elderly workers. In Taiwan, related data are scattered and distributed among different investigations in labor administration, health administration, and academic research institutions. In this study, we included four national survey databases from government departments including Survey of Perceptions of Safety and Health in the Work Environment from the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health, Council of Labor Affairs, Executive Yuan; Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging and Survey of Workplace Health Promotion and Tobacco Control of the Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health; and The Social Survey on Attitude Towards Needs, Provision of Services, Preferences for Late Life: Perspectives from Different Generations from Academia Sinica for integrative comparison and analysis. We organized statements on the population, work, and health conditions for the middle-aged and elderly workers in Taiwan. We discussed the comparative condition of middle-aged and elderly workers overall including the employed/unemployed in the three categories mentioned above to establish a more comprehensive understanding of middle-aged and elderly working population in Taiwan. This can be used as a reference for workplace health promotion policies regarding the middle-aged and the elderly employment and employment assistance, OHS protection, and health service plan. In the future, we hope Taiwan Government to make more efforts in establishing elderly-friendly healthy workplace environment through cooperation of multiple governmental departments.