Eyes on the Workplace

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Eyes on the Workplace
By Ron Cowen, Committee on Vision, National Research Council



&#8226ublisher:  National Academies Press
•Number Of Pages:  45
&#8226ublication Date:  1988-01-01
•ISBN-10 / ASIN:  0309062306
•ISBN-13 / EAN:  9780309062305


INTRODUCTION

About 25 million Americans are 65 and older. That figure will double during the next 25 years. Over the next 15 years, the baby boom generation will swell the ranks of middle-aged workers. But the numbers tell only half the story. The gradual decline in visual functioning that usually accompanies aging often goes undetected or is deemed untreatable.

Older people may have difficulty seeing at night, reading small print, distinguishing similar colors, or coping with glare from a desktop or video display terminal. Yet most older Americans do not have severe impairment, and only about 10 percent have eyesight so poor that they can barely see the largest printed line on an eye chart. Age-related visual impairment is highly variable. It may become significant as early as age 40, or it may not pose a problem until well into the 60s or 70s. Unless they have a major eye problem, however, most workers do not see eye specialists or undergo regular eye checkups.

Many people think of impaired vision as an inevitable part of aging for which little can be done. Some fear that if they ask for help, their job will be in jeopardy. More than likely, most older people are simply unaware that their eyesight has deteriorated.

Yet there are simple, often inexpensive methods to enhance the eyesight of older workers. Providing stronger lighting, increasing color contrast on stairwells, repositioning a desk or video display terminal to reduce glare—these are changes that most companies can afford to make. Providing regular eye checkups for workers over 40 can catch problems early, when they can be most effectively treated. In addition, giving older workers specific job training and encouraging them to practice visual tasks may help them compensate for their declining sight and profit from their learning skills and years of expertise. A corollary is that money invested in retaining older workers with impaired eyesight may be well spent: older employees take about the same amount of sick leave and are as productive as their younger counterparts, according to recent studies.

In short, many businesses, like many workers, are unaware of methods to improve vision or accommodate impaired vision. Better vision improves the quality of life for workers and can boost productivity. What the middle-aged Ben Franklin said about his invention of “double spectacles” (bifocals) holds true today in redesigning the workplace for older people: [Without glasses] I cannot distinguish a letter, even of large print, but am happy in the invention of double spectacles, which serving for distant objects as well as near ones, make my eyes as useful to me as ever they were. If all the other defects and infirmities were as easily and cheaply remedied, it would be worth while for friends to live a great deal longer.
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