What's new

Almost 22 years ago, in the summer of 2000, master's student Peter Smith walked through the doors of the Institute for Work & Health for a 16-week practicum placement. Now, Dr. Peter Smith is president of the Institute, replacing Dr. Cameron Mustard, who retired in January after 20 years in the position. In a Q&A with At Work, Smith looks back at his history with the Institute and his vision for its future. 

Many types of workplace practices and supports are available to help and accommodate workers with depression. But which do workers find most useful? Do their managers find the same? A study asks workers with lived experience of depression and the people who manage them, and finds rather divergent views.

On Monday, January 17, IWH’s Dr. Peter Smith becomes the new president of IWH. Smith has been a member of IWH’s scientific staff for over 15 years, most recently serving as the Institute’s scientific co-director. He replaces Dr. Cameron Mustard, who is retiring after 20 years in the position. In a statement issued earlier this week, Kate Lamb, chair of the IWH Board of Directors, warmly thanked Mustard for his tremendous contribution to the world of occupational health, safety and wellness. His impact as president is immeasurable, and his legacy will continue through his ongoing work with the Institute on active research projects, wrote Lamb.

Although we’re not yet out of the pandemic, we can begin to reflect on what workers and workplaces have been through, and what it means for the future of work. The IWH 2020-21 annual report, titled Taking Stock, describes the Institute’s research related to COVID-19 at the work-health interface. It also describes the Institute’s research into health, safety and disability issues that were important before the onset of COVID-19 and remain so today.

What do young adults with disabilities think about when they weigh their job options and consider their career goals in the future of work? In an IWH Speaker Series presentation on December 14, Institute Scientist Dr. Arif Jetha shares findings from his study on this question. He also discusses the supports young adults with disabilities need to face the challenges of a changing labour market and take advantage of its potential opportunities.

Despite progress to date, persons with disabilities still face discrimination and other barriers to full participation in society. They have lower employment rates, lower earnings, lower education attainment, higher poverty rates and higher health-care use. What would be the economic benefits if these barriers were removed? An IWH study set out to estimate the economic benefits of a fully inclusive Canada.

The latest issue of At Work is now out. In it you'll find: a round-up of five takeaways from the XXII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work; summaries of our research on unemployment benefits and long-term death rates, psychosocial conditions and the link to burnout and stress; and findings from studies on COVID-19 spread at work, and the preventive measures workplaces had in place.

For one in 10 Canadian workers, the psychosocial work environment is poor across the board. They lack job security, have unmanageable workloads, receive little supervisor support, and so on. What’s more, their working conditions are associated with a substantial increase in risk of burnout and stress—seven and nine times greater risk, respectively, than among workers with good psychosocial working conditions. This is according to a new study by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW).

Much of what we know about the return-to-work (RTW) process is based on workers’ compensation claims involving physical injuries. For people with mental health claims, the picture is very different. A new IWH infographic points out key disparities based on research conducted by the Institute.

How much of an impact can a depressive episode have on someone’s work earnings? IWH Associate Scientist Dr. Kathleen Dobson has conducted a study to answer this question. On November 9, she shares findings from her novel study in an IWH Speaker Series presentation.

From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health authorities recognized workplaces as a potential site of transmission. However, there remain large information gaps about workplace COVID-19 protection practices and COVID-19 spread at work. What types of infection control practices were in place at workplaces that continued to operate? How many cases of COVID-19 infection were transmitted at work? Find out on October 19, in an IWH Speaker Series by Dr. Peter Smith, who will share results from two studies conducted jointly with Public Health Ontario.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges for individuals, communities and policy-makers, including how to reduce transmission of the virus in workplaces and prevent its spread from workplaces to the community. So how did occupational health and safety (OHS) authorities, regulators or inspectorates around the world respond to the challenge? A team of researchers led by IWH President Dr. Cameron Mustard conducted a survey of OHS authorities in developed countries. A new Issue Briefing sums up the themes they heard.  

A new IWH Speaker Series season is around the corner. To start off the season on Tuesday, September 28, presenters Dr. Ron Saunders, an adjunct scientist at IWH, and John O’Grady, a partner at Prism Economics and Analysis, share their research estimating the nature and extent of claim suppression in British Columbia. Find out more on the events page.

Kate Lamb, a lawyer and head of People and Client Services at the Law Society of Canada, has been elected Chair of the Institute for Work & Health (IWH)’s Board of Directors. Lamb takes over the position held for over six years by Kevin Wilson, a former Assistant Deputy Minister in the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development. This was one of many changes made to the IWH Board membership at the Board’s September 2021 meeting, including the addition of three new Board members.

Congratulations to Dr. Kathleen Dobson, who has been promoted to associate scientist at the Institute. Dobson joined IWH in 2016 as research associate and currently holds a Syme fellowship in work and health. She’s completing her PhD in epidemiology at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

A new Project ECHO program on occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) has been launched! This telementoring project, which includes a research component led by IWH, is designed to offer support and advice to Ontario health-care providers who have patients with work-related health conditions. The program is now recruiting primary care providers—including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and other allied health professionals. Sessions are held via videoconference each Friday from September 17 to December 3, 2021.

In the Summer 2021 issue of At Work, read about: 

• a new telementoring pilot program for health-care providers on occupational and environmental medicine
• concerns about health, finances and workplace support among people with disabilities  
• the link between lacking employment standards and vulnerability to work-related injury risks

and more...

People with both physical and mental health disabilities were the most concerned about their work, health and finances during the early part of the pandemic. That’s according to an Institute for Work & Health (IWH) study led by Senior Scientist Dr. Monique Gignac. Notably, the study found concerns were linked to people’s work conditions, not to their health or disability status.

Last spring, we invited subscribers to IWH products to tell us how you use and share IWH research findings and resources. Our deepest thanks go out to all those who took part. A report sharing the results of that stakeholder survey is now available on our website.

As vaccination rates pick up steam across the country, there’s a real sense we are climbing out and emerging into a new normal. It’s with this sense of hope that we look back at our research strategy during the pandemic and consider what it will look like going forward. We also take a look at the findings to come.

Five of our most practical research findings from the past year for professionals in occupational health and safety (OHS) are all together in one handout. The 2021 edition of 5 Things We Think You Should Know is now available. Please download and share.

Frontline health-care providers play an important role in helping people return to work following a work-related injury or illness. But family doctors and other frontline practitioners may lack familiarity with the workers’ compensation system and return-to-work processes. A new telementoring project is being launched in Ontario to address this skills gap. Project ECHO on Occupational and Environmental Medicine, to be hosted by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), will launch in the fall. It will be the first such project on occupational medicine, using the innovative hub-and-spoke health-care mentoring model called ECHO—short for Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes—that’s now used around the world.

We know that being out of work puts people at risk of short- and long-term health consequences—including higher death rates. A new Institute for Work & Health study looks at whether—and how much—having income support during unemployment can lessen the negative impact.