Past events
Systematic Review Workshop
Spring 2019 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
Partners in Prevention 2019 Health & Safety Conference and Trade Show
Partners in Prevention 2019, taking place April 30-May 1 in Mississauga, Ont., is one of Canada's largest health and safety conferences and trade shows, featuring 50 breakout educational sessions and workshops, as well as over 400 exhibitors on the trade floor. IWH will be there at Booth #525.
Conference
Mining Health and Safety Conference
The 21st annual Mining Health and Safety Conference, hosted by Workplace Safety North, is taking place April 9-11, 2019 in Sudbury, Ont. IWH will be exhibiting at the conference on Wednesday, April 10. Drop by and say hello.
Other events
John R. Evans Lectureship in Global Health by Dr. Joan Benach
On April 11, 2019 in Toronto, the Dalla Lana School of Public Health presents the John R. Evans Lectureship in Global Health, featuring Dr. Joan Benach, director of the Health Inequalities Research Group at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.
IWH Speaker Series
Evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of Ontario’s working-at-heights training standards
Lynda Robson, Institute for Work & Health
In 2015, Ontario's Ministry of Labour implemented regulations defining working-at-heights (WAH) training program standards and establishing a program for approving training providers in the province. In this presentation, Dr. Lynda Robson shares findings from a study that examined the reach and effectiveness of the training standard.
Conference
Disability and Work in Canada 2018: A partnering strategy for moving forward
This conference will review a proposed national strategy to improve the level of employment of persons with disabilities in Canada, aiming to foster broad consensus on the key elements of that draft strategy.
IWH Speaker Series
Assessing workplace training for skin exposure prevention
Linn Holness, Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease
For almost 20 years, the Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease has studied skin exposure prevention strategies, including worker training on this common hazard. In this presentation, Dr. Linn Holness shares research findings on training effectiveness, highlighting gaps, barriers and facilitators to training implementation.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.