FOCUS ON FACULTY
Age Friendly Workplace Advocate Michael Silverstein
Clinical Professor Michael Silverstein has been collaborating with our department’s researchers and students since 2001.
He says it is “energizing to work with bright students who don’t want to merely listen; they also want to engage.” Silverstein finds gratification in seeing former students in successful careers. Kenneth Scott (MPH, Environmental and Occupational Health, 2009) is now at the Mountain and Plains Education and Research Center at the University of Colorado in Denver. Another student, Yolanda Sanchez, received a joint MPA/MS degree from our department and the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs in 2007. She now works for the US Environmental Protection Agency.
In December 2009, Silverstein participated in a regional forum to showcase an innovative training workshop called “Designing the Age Friendly Workplace” that will better prepare labor unions, industry, and private practice for an aging workforce. The number of people who continue working after the age of 65 has increased significantly, and many companies have not developed programs or policies to address the challenges particular to a graying workforce, explains Silverstein. As workers age, chronic conditions become more prevalent and physical limitations increase. Due in part to these physiological changes, the numbers of severe injuries on the job increase with age.
With this curriculum, funded by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) Safety and Health Investments Project, Silverstein was able to apply research findings to practice settings. Silverstein says, “I have spent most of my career doing front-line public health work. That’s what drives me—addressing problems at their base, on the ground.”
Also involved in developing the curriculum were faculty members Steven Hecker and Kate Stewart and former Curriculum Manager and alumnus Kenneth Scott as well as L&I partners Rick Goggins, Sharon Drozdowsky, Bruce Coulter, and Lena Wang.
Silverstein recently accepted the position of Assistant Director of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) at L&I. DOSH is the state equivalent of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The state agency oversees workplace safety and health in Washington state by developing, implementing, and enforcing regulations. He headed the same division from 1997 to 2005.