Past events
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IWH Speaker Series
Prevention of work injuries using a systematic KTE approach: Experiences from a research project in Denmark
Johnny Dyreborg, National Research Centre for the Working Environment
In a two-part presentation, Dr. Johnny Dyreborg summarizes findings from a systematic review on the effectiveness of safety interventions and describe an interactive approach of knowledge exchange. In the first part of the presentation, he shares preliminary results from a recent review that evaluated a range of different types of safety interventions directed at reducing workplace injuries. In the second part, he discusses the shortcomings of review methodology that decontextualizes research findings. He also outlines an interactive knowledge exchange approach for implementing evidence-based ‘best practice’ injury prevention at the workplace, one that builds on IWH's Knowledge Transfer and Exchange (KTE) methods.
IWH Speaker Series
Challenges in accommodating mental and physical health conditions: What workplace parties are saying
Monique Gignac, Institute for Work & Health
In this presentation, Dr. Monique Gignac shares findings from a study examining organizational perspectives on implementing work disability prevention and management practices, as well as key issues in supporting workers with chronic, episodic conditions.
IWH Speaker Series
The effects of gradual return to work on sustained return to work
Esther Maas, Partnership for Work, Health, and Safety, University of British Columbia
Gradual return to work (GRTW) provides workers recovering from an injury with the opportunity to limit or modify work tasks and gradually build up work hours and work load with the goal of returning to full hours and duties. In this presentation, Dr. Esther Maas presents her research, which used detailed administrative workers’ compensation calendar data on return-to-work (RTW) in British Columbia to explore the effect of GRTW on sustained RTW. She also discusses opportunities for using population-based data to analyse the costs and effects of GRTW to improve RTW outcomes.
Conference
OOHNA 47th Annual Conference and Exhibition
The 2018 annual conference of the Ontario Occupational Health Nurses Association (OOHNA) features one day of sessions focusing on the psychological health and safety and recent developments in health and safety legislation and legal decision, and a one-day workshop addressing the management of employees in distress, with a focus on tools to support emotional and cognitive concerns in the workplace.
IWH Speaker Series
Superior Mental Wellness @ Work: Results of a comprehensive employee mental health project in northwestern Ontario
Vicki Kristman, Lakehead University; Lynda Fraser, Thunder Bay District Health Unit; Susan Armstrong, Thunder Bay District Health Unit
The Superior Mental Wellness @ Work project is a two-year multi-component initiative aimed at promoting workplace environments that reduce psychological hazards and maintain positive mental health for employees in Thunder Bay and District. In this presentation, members of the project team provide an overview of the project and outline results of the overall program evaluation.
IWH Speaker Series
Reporting and consequences of workplace violence in six Ontario hospitals
Peter Smith, Institute for Work & Health
We currently do not know what proportion of workplace violence incidents in Ontario are captured by each hospital’s reporting system. We also lack information on reasons for not reporting workplace violence incidents. Dr. Peter Smith of the Institute for Work & Health provides findings from a survey in late 2017 of over 1,000 workers in six Ontario hospitals on the incidence, reporting and consequences of workplace violence. He also discusses the implications of these findings on the interpretation of Ontario's new mandatory indicator of workplace violence.
Systematic Review Workshop
Spring 2018 Systematic Review Workshop
This three-day workshop teaches participants how to plan and carry out a basic systematic review, understand the appropriate methods for more complex analysis, interpret the results of a meta-analysis and accurately communicate the results and interpretation of a review.
Conference
Work, Migration and Health Forum 2018
The Work, Migration and Health Forum 2018, sponsored in part by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), examines the labour experiences of temporary foreign workers, new immigrants, refugees, working international students and undocumented migrants, and explores opportunities for effective interventions. IWH's Dr. Basak Yanar is delivering a keynote on newcomers’ experiences looking for work and finding information about health and safety.
IWH Speaker Series
Who claims for injury: comparing self-reported injury data and accident compensation claims
Michelle Poland, University of Otago, New Zealand
How well does compensation claims data capture actual injury trends? Research in several different jurisdictions has suggested that workers' compensation claims data represents only a fraction of actual injuries at work. A recent study examined whether a similar pattern of under-reporting exists in New Zealand, where the universal, no-fault accident compensation environment should theoretically remove common barriers to filing claims. In this IWH Speaker Series presentation, lead researcher Michelle Poland shares results of her findings and their broader implications.
Conference
Partners in Prevention 2018
The Institute for Work & Health will once again be at Ontario's largest health and safety conference, as both presenter and exhibitor. Come hear one of our scientists presenting research on the latest evidence on prolonged standing and sitting, and a research associate introducing our new guide on supporting employees with depression in the workplace. And drop by Booth #525 to get practical research findings that can help improve your OHS program.
IWH Speaker Series
Towards a better understanding of differences in the risk of workplace violence for men and women in Canada
Peter Smith, Institute for Work & Health
Workplace violence is getting increasing attention, especially within certain industries such as health care and education. This presentation will discuss results from two recently completed studies examining differences in the risk of workplace violence for men and women.
IWH Speaker Series
Flame retardants in e-waste recycling: an emerging occupational hazard
Victoria Arrandale, Occupational Cancer Research Centre
With the growth of electronic waste recycling in Ontario and other parts of Canada, concerns about several occupational hazards are coming to the fore. In this presentation, Dr. Victoria Arrandale summarizes results from the first study of flame retardant chemicals in the Canadian e-waste industry, as well as the effects of other hazards in the e-waste environment.
IWH Speaker Series
Systematic review of workplace interventions to manage depression
Emma Irvin, Institute for Work & Health; Kim Cullen, Institute for Work & Health; Dwayne Van Eerd, Institute for Work & Health
By the year 2020, depression will be the second leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. What effective intervention approaches for managing depression can workplaces offer to help employees either stay at work while experiencing symptoms, or return to work after a depression-related absence? In this presentation, an Institute for Work & Health team share findings from a recent systematic review of the scientific literature on this question.
IWH Speaker Series
The burden of occupational cancer
Paul Demers, Occupational Cancer Research Centre
In October 2017, the Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC) and Cancer Care Ontario released a report on the impact of workplace carcinogens in Ontario. The report, Burden of Occupational Cancer in Ontario: Major Workplace Carcinogens and Prevention of Exposure, focused on carcinogens that are well-established causes of cancer—for example, solar ultraviolet radiation, asbestos, diesel engine exhaust and crystalline silica—as well as commonly known or suspected carcinogens found in Ontario workplaces. In this presentation, the first in the newly named IWH Speaker Series, Dr. Paul Demers shares the report's key findings. He also discusses policy recommendations aimed at the government, Ontario’s occupational health and safety system, employers and non-governmental organizations.
IWH Speaker Series
Availability of caregiver-friendly workplace policies: an international scoping review
Allison Williams, McMaster University
Where are caregiver-friendly workplaces commonly found? What sectors are they in and what characteristics do their policies share? In this plenary, Dr. Allison Williams shares findings from her scoping review on the availability of workplace policies to support employees who have additional off-work responsibilities of caring for loved ones.
IWH Speaker Series
Addressing essential skills gaps in an OHS training program: a pilot study
Ron Saunders, Institute for Work & Health; Siobhan Cardoso, Institute for Work & Health; Morgane Le Pouésard, Institute for Work & Health
Can an occupational health and safety (OHS) training program be improved by modifying it to address gaps in essential skills? In a recent study, a research team led by Dr. Ron Saunders modified a hoisting and rigging training program offered by the LIUNA Local 506 training centre. The changes were made to address trainees’ skills gaps in numeracy and document use that were related to the job. In this plenary, the team share findings regarding the effect of modifying the curriculum on trainee learning and discuss suggestions for improving training efforts within the construction sector.
IWH Speaker Series
Hand-arm vibration syndrome: a common but under-recognized problem
Ron House, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital
Hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) is a common occupational disease, which in advanced cases may be associated with significant upper extremity disability and reduced quality of life. However, HAVS is under-recognized and under-reported in Ontario and other Canadian provinces. Moreover, there is currently no legislation in Ontario for hand-arm vibration exposure. In this plenary, Dr. Ron House shares his HAVS research at St. Michael's Hospital and the Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease (CREOD). He describes HAVS and its components, outlines its clinical assessment and management, and reviews the legislation for hand-arm vibration exposure and compensation experience for HAVS in Canada. He also highlights recent efforts to raise awareness of HAVS and increase focus on preventing this occupational exposure.
IWH Speaker Series
Do workplace facilities and health promotion programs help workers be physically active?
Aviroop Biswas, Institute for Work & Health
Despite the known health benefits of regular physical activity, over half of adults fail to meet physical activity recommendations of at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week. Recognizing that working-aged adults typically spend a third of their day at work, many workplaces offer wellness programs and facilities that support physical activity near or at work. In this plenary, Dr. Avi Biswas shares the results of a study that drew from a national survey of Canadians to examine the relationship between access to such facilities and wellness programs and the leisure time physical activity of workers.
Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture
High-hazard industries: Addressing safety culture, climate and leadership to improve outcomes
Linda Goldenhar, CPWR—The Center for Construction Research and Training
In this lecture Dr. Goldenhar talks about the research that led her team to develop, first, a workbook to help strengthen jobsite safety climate by improving performance in eight areas identified as leading indicators of health and safety outcomes and, more recently an online tool that assesses a workplace’s safety climate maturity. Dr. Goldenhar also shares preliminary evaluation findings of a program that she and her team developed to improve jobsite supervisory leadership—one of the eight safety climate leading indicators identified as critical by construction stakeholders.
IWH Speaker Series
Safe employment integration of recent immigrants and refugees
Agnieszka Kosny, Institute for Work & Health; Basak Yanar, Institute for Work & Health; Dina Al-Khooly, Institute for Work & Health
Settlement and integration involve helping recent immigrants and refugees find work and become economically solvent. Many newcomers end up in survival jobs that expose them to hazards and are precarious and physically demanding. In this plenary, presenters Dr. Agnieszka Kosny, Dr. Basak Yanar and Dina Al-khooly summarize a recent study investigating how newcomers come to understand their rights and where there are gaps in resources and training.