Evaluation of the Work Ability of workers in the furniture sector of a city in the south of Brazil

Abstract The aging of the workforce is a phenomenon that the world population is facing. Researchers at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health have developed a tool for assessing the work ability, an instrument through which it is possible to identify the existence of early functional aging among a certain group of workers. The present study measured the Work Capability Index (WAI) of workers from 5 small furniture companies in a city in southern Brazil. It was possible to notice that with the increase of age, the average WAI of the workers was smaller, although there was no statistical significance (p> 0.05), by the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test. The variables “civil status”, “current schooling” and “education” presented statistical significance (p <0.05), being possible to associate these variables with the decline in work ability. The results showed that only 13.6% of workers have a low or moderate work ability. For 86.4%, the results showed good or excellent indices, and in these cases, actions must be taken that can maintain and improve the work ability.