Occupational health and valid work exposure tools are keys to improving the health of ageing workers

Many countries have increased the legal retirement age due to economic constraints and ageing populations.1 One important obstacle to raising retirement age is premature ageing caused by difficult and arduous working conditions.2 3 Nevertheless, even for some countries with retirement ages that may vary according to working conditions, it is particularly challenging to define an optimal retirement age that consistently and fairly determines which workers may be granted earlier retirement due to difficult working conditions.

France started by defining exposures in terms of their consequences, that is, the presence of a specific recognised occupational disease or injury.4 In 2014, the government introduced a new rule requiring employers to evaluate the extent of workers’ exposures to multiple working conditions. The workers could retire earlier depending on the number of years of such exposure. The decision was based on the number of years of exposure...

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