Past events
IWH Speaker Series
Preventing musculoskeletal disorders: Findings from a systematic review update
Emma Irvin, Institute for Work & Health; Claire Munhall, Institute for Work & Health
Workers in all industries are vulnerable to painful and potentially disabling injuries and disorders of the neck, shoulders, upper arms, forearms, elbows, wrists and hands—areas known as the upper extremities. The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) has conducted a systematic review on the effectiveness of workplace intervention programs to prevent and manage upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). In this plenary, the team shares the updated findings and the key messages from the latest research available.
IWH Speaker Series
Examining supervisors' support for work accommodation
Vicki Kristman, Institute for Work & Health
Employers can help prevent work disability due to low-back pain by offering temporary work accommodations. And often it's the supervisor who plays a key role in making offers of accommodation available. In this plenary, Associate Scientist Dr. Vicki Kristman outlines her study of supervisors, and shares the individual and organizational factors that are more likely to increase their support for work accommodation.
IWH Speaker Series
A model of "breakthrough change" in workplace health and safety performance
Lynda Robson, Institute for Work & Health
What do workplaces that manage to turn around their poor health and safety records have in common? In an innovative, case-study-based study called "Breakthrough Change," Dr. Lynda Robson examined the experiences of four Ontario workplaces that dramatically brought down their injury claim rates over a 10-year period. In this plenary, she shares the common themes that have emerged from her study—some of them unexpected.
IWH Speaker Series
Different but equal: Workforce participation of people with episodic disabilities
Tammy C. Yates, Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation (CWGHR)
An increasing number of Canadians live with lifelong episodic disabilities that result from chronic conditions, including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, HIV, mental illness, diabetes, lupus, cancer and other rare diseases. Despite their ability to work, these people face barriers to employment, job retention and income supports. In this plenary, Tammy Yates of the Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation talks about the barriers to full workforce participation by those living with episodic disabilities and issues a call to action.
IWH Speaker Series
Developing CSA standards for OHS
Andrea Holbeche, CSA Group
When CSA standards are developed for occupational health and safety (OHS), what does the process look like? In this plenary, Andrea Holbeche, project manager in OHS at CSA Group (formerly the Canadian Standards Association), lays out the methodology for developing, writing and reviewing standards to ensure they remain current and technically valid. CSA standards are used by a broad base of stakeholders to help enhance safety for people and businesses. When implemented by industries or regulators, CSA standards help contribute to a wide range of safety and sustainability goals.
IWH Speaker Series
Movement analysis of firefighters using gaming and simulation technology
Tara Kajaks, McMaster University
The work firefighters do can be very physically demanding, putting them at risk of musculoskeletal injuries (MSI). In this plenary, Tara Kajaks presents her research on the use of gaming and simulation technology to ergonomically assess firefighters in their training environment. In addition to presenting the study results, she also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of this technology for field-based movement analysis and ergonomics assessment.
IWH Speaker Series
Building front-line capacity to prevent occupational disease in Ontario
Linn Holness, Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease
Occupational diseases are typically under-recognized and under-reported, in part because awareness of occupational disease and its prevention is low. The Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease (CREOD) has been working with occupational health and safety system partners over the past several years to address occupational disease. In this plenary, occupational health physician Dr. Linn Holness, CREOD director and professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, tells the story of her team's journey as they undertook this work. In particular, she talks about a recent study exploring the knowledge, skill and resource needs of front-line prevention system partners for occupational skin disease prevention and CREOD's current approach to addressing these needs.
IWH Speaker Series
Ontario Office of the Worker Adviser: Services and partnerships in support of vulnerable workers
Alec Farquhar, Office of the Worker Adviser
Ontario's Office of the Worker Adviser (OWA) provides free and confidential services to 10,000 non-unionized workers every year in matters related to workplace insurance and occupational health and safety reprisals. In this presentation, OWA Director Alec Farquhar highlights the range of services provided, the partnerships within the workplace insurance system and the broader community, as well as the emerging challenges for vulnerable workers.
IWH Speaker Series
Income security and labour-market engagement: Envisioning the future of work disability policy in Canada
Emile Tompa, Institute for Work & Health; Ellen MacEachen, Institute for Work & Health
In this plenary IWH senior scientists Drs. Emile Tompa and Ellen MacEachen describe the new Centre for Research in Work Disability Policy, recently launched to address work disability policy challenges through a seven-year SSHRC Partners grant. They describe the centre’s mandate and how it's organized to create a new generation of research on work disability policy.
IWH Speaker Series
How to make occupational health and safety training more effective: Findings from a field trial
Ben Amick, Institute for Work & Health
In a recent quasi-experimental field trial, an Institute for Work & Health (IWH) research team compared the impact of in-person office ergonomics training with e-learning office ergonomics training. Both training programs took the same amount of time and delivered the same content. In this plenary, the IWH's Dr. Ben Amick, the lead researcher on this project, presents the findings of the 12-month trial, including which form of training had the greatest impact on worker knowledge, attitudes and behaviour with respect to office ergonomics.
IWH Speaker Series
An introduction to developmental evaluation: Why evaluation matters in rethinking "accountability to learning"
Sanjeev Sridharan, St. Michael's Hospital
What is developmental evaluation? Why might this approach to program development be relevant for Ontario's health system? In this plenary, Sanjeev Sridharan, director of the Evaluation Centre for Complex Health Interventions at St. Michael's Hospital's Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, shares his thoughts on the many ways developmental evaluations can contribute to accountability and learning.
IWH Speaker Series
Law Commission of Ontario’s Vulnerable Workers Project: Why? How? What’s next?
Patricia Hughes, Law Commission of Ontario
In April 2013, the Law Commission of Ontario released its final report on vulnerable workers and precarious work. The project addressed part-time, contract and temporary work—including work under the federal foreign worker programs. Among its 47 recommendations are those related to the distribution of information to new employees, increased pro-active inspections in high risk workplaces and the expediting of reprisal complaints. In this plenary, Patricia Hughes, the Commission's executive director, explains the vulnerable workers/precarious work project: its focus, its most significant recommendations, as well as its seen and potential impact.
IWH Speaker Series
Preventing needlestick injuries in Ontario’s acute care hospitals: Progress and ongoing challenges
Andrea Chambers, Institute for Work & Health
In 2007, Ontario introduced a regulation to promote the adoption of safety-engineered needles for the prevention of needlestick injuries. However, needlestick injury declines in the province from 2004 to 2011 have not been substantial. Ontario’s regulatory standard, designed to allow for local flexibility in the selection and implementation of these safety devices, relies heavily on the actions and conditions of regulated workplaces. In this plenary, Andrea Chambers shares findings on how implementation of the regulation played out at three acute-care hospitals.
IWH Speaker Series
Geographic variation in work injuries: An analysis of individual and area-level factors within Canada
Curtis Breslin, Institute for Work & Health; Sara Morassaei, Institute for Work & Health
To what extent do work injuries vary from one region to another, from one province to another? And what factors are associated with these variations? IWH Scientist Dr. Curtis Breslin and Research Operations Coodinator Sara Morassaei share the findings of a study that helped answer these questions, based on data from the 2003 and 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey.
IWH Speaker Series
Bridging the gap between the economic evaluation literature and daily practice in OHS
Hanneke van Dongen, VU University Amsterdam
Continued improvements in occupational health and safety (OHS) can only be ensured if decisions about interventions are based on the best available evidence. To ensure this is the case, scientific evidence should meet the needs of decision-makers. In this plenary, Hanneke van Dongen shares the results of a qualitative study that explores the OHS decision-making process and information needs of decision-makers in the context of bridging the gap between the economic evaluation literature and daily practice in workplace health and safety.
IWH Speaker Series
Contrasting participatory ergonomics programs with requirements for occupational health and safety management systems
Richard Wells, Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD)
There has been growing literature on participatory ergonomics (PE) programs, in which teams work together to identify risks, and change tools, equipment and work processes to improve workplace conditions. But how do PE programs fit in with occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) standards? In this study, Dr. Richard Wells examines elements of PE programs and contrasts them against key themes of OHSMS. The findings may not bode well for successful implementation of PE programs.
IWH Speaker Series
Health and safety issues in the aging workforce
Harry Shannon, McMaster University
Concerns about the viability of social programs have prompted governments to encourage workers to remain in the workforce. What will persuade older workers to stay in employment? What needs to be done to ensure they remain healthy and productive? This talk examines these issues. The health effects of normal aging are reviewed, as well as the implications for health and safety. Some possible ways to manage the aging workforce are discussed. Finally, questions that need to be answered are outlined, and methodological challenges for epidemiological studies are described.
IWH Speaker Series
Health-care workers and antineoplastic drugs: Evaluating the risks and identifying determinants of exposure
Chun Yip Hon, Ryerson University
Health-care workers may be exposed to hazardous antineoplastic drugs—i.e. drugs used in chemotherapy—when handling them and/or when touching surfaces contaminated by them. Most studies looking at exposures to antineoplastic drugs in hospitals have been limited to select departments and/or workers with certain job titles. This may lead to an underestimation of the risk if all exposures during the circulation of the drug within a facility from cradle to grave (known as the hospital medication system) are not taken into account. In this plenary, Chun Yip Hon, an assistant professor in Ryerson University's School of Occupational and Public Health, talks about his study of antineoplastic drugs and the hospital medication system. His results suggest that contamination is more widespread than initially believed and that a wider range of job categories are at risk of exposure to antineoplastic drugs.
IWH Speaker Series
Non-randomized studies in Cochrane reviews of intervention studies: A content analysis
Jani Ruotsalainen, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Finland
Although a growing number of Cochrane reviews of intervention studies have included non-randomized studies, how and why these studies have been included has not been evaluated to date. In this plenary, Jani Ruotsalainen, managing editor of the Cochrane Occupational Safety and Health Review Group, talks about the practice of including non-randomized studies in Cochrane systematic reviews, focusing on the reasons why these studies were included. He also looks at the methods used by the studies to assess risk of bias.
IWH Speaker Series
Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study: Recruitment and participant characteristics
Sarah Derrett, University of Otago, New Zealand
A longitudinal study is underway in New Zealand to identify the predictors of disability following an injury. This study, called the Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study, involves 2,856 participants who were selected from the entitlement claims registry of the country’s no-fault compensation insurer, the Accident Compensation Corporation. Participants were recruited between 2007 and 2009, and follow-ups were done at 12 months and 24 months after their injuries. In this plenary, principal investigator Sarah Derrett provides a brief overview of the study design, participant characteristics (including health and disability status), and findings on the factors associated with disability.