Grant round-up: Workplace factors behind severe injuries, suicide prevention in construction, and more

The Institute for Work & Health conducts research that answers questions important to stakeholders within the injury and disability prevention system. In this round-up of research grants that IWH researchers have been awarded in the last two years, a couple of the most recent grants are highlighted below.

Moving the needle on preventing workplace fatalities and critical incidents in Ontario

Over the last decades, occupational health and safety (OHS) activities in Ontario have had success in lowering the overall number of work-related injuries. But their impact on preventing the most severe injuries has been limited. According to data from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), the number of acute traumatic deaths related to work barely changed over a decade, from 93 in 2013 to 95 in 2023. That’s an average of nearly two deaths a week.

The lack of progress in preventing fatalities and serious injuries points to the need for new approaches to identify modifiable factors where prevention efforts can be targeted. In a new study funded by WSIB and supported by WorkSafe Ontario Fund, an IWH team will examine the organizational or workplace factors associated with traumatic injuries. The team, led by IWH President and Senior Scientist Dr. Peter Smith, will use tax data to pull business information that’s already routinely collected, including turnover rates, staff composition (specifically, the share of new hires), current revenue/expenditures and salary/wage rates, and link these with compensation claim information. This data linkage will create a first-in-Canada data resource. 

“Research conducted around the world suggests that leadership behaviours and management decisions—such as those around schedules, work processes, and investment in equipment and training—play a large role influencing the events that lead to workplace deaths and critical injuries,” says Smith. “This project will identify changes at a business level that are associated with the risk of a fatality or critical incident occurring at that organization in the future. This will allow greater awareness among both businesses and prevention agencies of conditions that increase the risk of fatalities and critical incidents occurring so that they can direct greater prevention efforts towards these being reduced.”

Addressing suicide and substance use in construction

Construction workers are exposed to a range of physical hazards in the workplace and, as a result, have some of the highest rates of work-related injury and illness in Canada. While injury prevention efforts have traditionally focused on the physical risks, there’s growing recognition within the prevention system of the psychosocial risks to workers’ mental health—including hazards such as long hours, unstable schedules, and norms of masculinity and stoicism. 

Stakeholders within the construction sector increasingly recognize the urgent need to address suicide and substance use in this sector. However, statistics on the scope of the problem and its risk factors in Canada are lacking. Efforts to address these issues are also fragmented and reactive, with limited coordination across the sector and a lack of insight on promising strategies for prevention and management of suicide and substance use in the workplace. To address this gap, an IWH research team is conducting a study with a dual goal: (1) to address data gaps on the issue in Canada; (2) identify existing workplace strategies—programs, interventions, resources and tools—aimed at preventing or managing suicide and suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and substance use among workers in this sector. 

“Although there is a sense of urgency to act, stakeholders are often uncertain about prevention and management strategies and the level of evidence supporting their use,” says Dr. Nancy Carnide, IWH scientist, study co-lead. “Canadian industry leaders have been developing a collection of resources and programs, including tailgate talks, fact sheets, online training, and peer support programs, but with a ‘let’s see what works’ approach. Despite the need to act quickly, they also want to know what approaches are effective and evidence-based, and that’s part of what we hope to be able to answer with this study.”

This study is co-led by IWH and the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA). It’s funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the WSIB, supported by WorkSafe Ontario Fund.

Grant round-up 2024-2026