Upcoming events
IWH Speaker Series
Clearing the haze: Understanding how Canadian workers use and perceive cannabis at work
Nancy Carnide, Institute for Work & Health
Recreational cannabis is now legal in Canada and many surveys suggest employers are concerned about the potential implications for workplaces. In this presentation, Dr. Nancy Carnide shares preliminary findings of a survey of workers, conducted in June 2018, aimed at understanding patterns of workplace cannabis use and the social norms and perceptions about such use.
IWH Speaker Series
Promoting labour market transitions for young adults with chronic disabling conditions: a systematic review
Arif Jetha, Institute for Work & Health
Young adulthood is an important phase of life when most people establish their careers. And yet, it's a time when many young adults with disabling health conditions find themselves excluded from the labour market. A systematic review led by Dr. Arif Jetha examined work-focused interventions to support the transition of these young adults into the labour market. In this presentation, he shares findings and highlights the effectiveness of these interventions across different career stages and disability types.
Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture
Preventing occupational disease: Moving the agenda forward
Paul Demers, Occupational Cancer Research Centre
Exposures arising from work in high-income countries are understood to be responsible for 15 to 20 per cent of all lung cancers, 15 per cent of asthma cases, and varying proportions of many other diseases. There is a now a growing recognition that the burden will persist if we don’t pay increased regulatory and voluntary attention to occupational disease prevention. In the 2018 Nachemson lecture, Dr. Paul Demers will review the distinct research challenges in establishing a causal relationship between exposure to substances in occupational settings and the onset of disease. He will describe the process by which important international agencies establish a scientific consensus on disease causation arising from occupational exposures and the challenges of estimating the burden of occupational disease. He will also highlight past successes in occupational disease prevention in Canada and outline his perspective on opportunities to move the occupational disease prevention agenda in Canada in the decade ahead.
Conference
2020 World Congress on Safety and Health at Work
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) and the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) are proud to announce that Canada has been selected to host the XXII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, to be held in Toronto in the fall of 2020. The World Congress, sponsored by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Social Security Association (ISSA), is the world’s largest event for the international occupational health and safety community and will draw more than 3,500 delegates from more than 150 countries.
Past events
IWH Speaker Series
An impact analysis of two silica dust exposure reduction strategies
Emile Tompa, Institute for Work & Health
Crystalline silica dust exposure is common in the construction sector. Inhalation of silica dust is known to cause lung cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and tuberculosis. In this presentation, Dr. Emile Tompa examines the implementation of two approaches to reducing exposure: use of personal protective equipment (i.e. respirators) by all exposed individuals and use of engineering controls (e.g. wet method) wherever and whenever feasible. He shares findings from an impact analysis based on data spanning 30 years.
IWH Speaker Series
Introducing the new MSD Prevention Guideline for Ontario
Richard Wells, Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD)
The Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD) kicks off Global Ergonomics Month with the launch of the new MSD Prevention Guideline for Ontario. This initiative builds on a previous guideline and toolboxes, developed in 2005-2006 by the Ontario health and safety system under the auspices of the Occupational Safety and Health Council of Ontario (OSHCO). In this presentation, CRE-MSD's Dr. Richard Wells provides an overview of the updated content and the host of tools and resources to meet the needs of workplaces of all types and sizes. He also outlines the new guideline's three interlinked sources: Quick Start (an introductory guideline for micro and very small businesses), Basic and Comprehensive.
IWH Speaker Series
Challenges in designing organizational and system-level interventions to prevent work disability
William Shaw, University of Connecticut Health Center
Interventions to prevent work disability can vary widely. They can include: changes in laws and regulations; provider training and education; outreach and support to workers and supervisors; modified employer policies and practices; and changes in insurance and medical reimbursement policies. Given the very wide band of possible strategies in this area, researchers and policy makers face some serious design challenges when developing feasible and effective interventions. In this presentation, Dr. Bill Shaw discusses three intervention design issues: reach, implementation, and organizational structure. He draws on published and ongoing studies to discuss feasibility constraints, design assumptions and evaluation methods.