Women at physical work stations – limitations resulting from gender and age

Abstract

Contemporary studies indicate the lack of a positive impact of high physical effort in professional work on health, especially in connection with the deficit of recreational physical activity during leisure time. Women, due to physiological conditions, are not able to perform all activities at work equally with men. This applies in particular to work related to physical effort, transport of weights and forced body position. In the case of older women, apart from the physiological differences dictated by gender, functional changes occurring in the ageing human body, which also significantly reduce the ability to perform physical work, are added. The problem of employers disregarding hard physical labour leads to adverse effects for both them and their companies. Excessive work load and, associated with it, fatigue of employees result in inferior quality and work efficiency and the increase in sick leave due to ailments and illnesses. Therefore, it seems obvious to adapt the work station and working conditions to the needs of older women that perform physical work.