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
New early career award recipient to study aging, health and wellbeing among PSWs
The latest recipient of IWH's Cameron Mustard Early Career Incubation Award will conduct research on the health and safety of personal support workers (PSWs) as they age. Dr. Madison Brydges, homecare scientist at VHA Home HealthCare, aims to co-design workplace solutions to keep experienced workers supported and engaged in the field long into their career.
IWH launches new forum series with research on safety in small businesses
Small businesses, which make up almost nine in 10 businesses in Ontario, have higher injury rates than larger business. Research has shown, however, that this injury-rate gap disappears in when proper protections are put in place. To help small business owners put preventive measures into practice, IWH’s inaugural What’s Working? What’s Next? forum brought together owners from London, Ont., to learn about IWH research on managing key workplace health and safety issues.
Despite progress on workplace accommodation and support, new challenges continue to emerge
Workplaces in Canada have made important gains in their understanding of, and approaches to, disability support and accommodation. Despite improvements, new issues continue to emerge and challenge the people involved in providing workplace disability supports.
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Rises in opioid harms highest in machining, construction, sales
A new study has found that opioid harm rates have increased among injured workers over the last two decades. The study breaks the trends down by occupation, and high-hazard roles saw the biggest increases. However, some typically low-hazard occupations, like clerical and sales jobs, also saw large increases in harms.
IWH Speaker Series
Learn directly from IWH researchers themselves about their latest findings in health, safety and disability prevention. Coming up next:
Work and health 2040: Anticipating changes impacting the futures of occupational health and safety
Presented by Arif Jetha.
Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2026, 11:00AM EST
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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.
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.
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.