Trusted research, with reach and impact

The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) is an independent, multidisciplinary, not-for-profit research organization located in Ontario, Canada. IWH conducts and mobilizes research that supports policy-makers, employers and workers in creating healthy, safe and inclusive work environments.

Latest news & findings

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Being part of an IWH research partnership helped health charities meet their communities’ needs

The seven-year partnership project, titled Accommodating and Communicating about Episodic Disabilities (ACED), showcases the role partner organizations can play in developing user-friendly research products and in disseminating these products more widely than would have been possible without their help. As told in this impact case study, the partnership enhanced both the quality of the research and the partners’ ability to serve their clients.

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Arts-based study reveals complexities of working as a nail technician

Workplace hazards have been the focus of many studies on the health and safety of nail salons and their workers. But an arts-based study strived to demonstrate the complexity of nail technicians’ relationships to their work, finding both harms and joys.

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IWH award recipient to study work and health issues faced by Canada’s temporary residents on work, student visas

Very little research has been done to date on the 2.5 million people living in Canada on a non-permanent residency status, such as on a work or student visa. Now, with an award from the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), Dr. Sonja Senthanar is leading research to understand how constraints on citizenship may affect the work and health experiences of non-permanent residents.

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5 Things We Think You Should Know

For a quick rundown of Institute for Work & Health research findings from the last year, look no further than our latest edition of 5 Things We Think You Should Know. 

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Which workers and jobs will be most affected by machine learning?

Machine learning is being adopted by more and more Canadian workplaces. Given this technology’s ability to learn, adapt and generate work outputs, it also has the potential to perform job tasks in place of humans. But which workers might be most affected by the use of machine learning? An IWH study explores this question.

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IWH Speaker Series

Learn directly from IWH researchers themselves about their latest findings in health, safety and disability prevention. The IWH Speaker Series is a livestream webinar series that features new study findings from the Institute for Work & Health. The webinars are usually held once a month, on a Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. EST. Recordings are also available to watch on demand.

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Tools and guides

Integrate evidence-based policies and practices into your occupational health and safety, return-to-work and rehabilitation programs. IWH has created a number of tools and guides based on our research findings that can help improve program outcomes.

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Impact case studies

Find out how IWH research is making a difference. Read our impact case studies, in which policy-makers, workplaces and other stakeholders in health, safety and disability prevention tell how IWH research helped improve their policies, programs and practices.

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Research summaries

Whether it’s a policy briefing, a systematic review summary or the highlights of a specific research project, we’ve compiled a number of plain-language summaries to help you understand the research we’re doing, what we have found, and how we found it.

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