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IWH launches research program on AI and workplace safety, inequities

Uses of artificial intelligence (AI) are all around us but, until now, few researchers have examined the impact of AI through the lens of worker inequities and worker health and safety. In October, a team led by IWH Scientist Dr. Arif Jetha kicked off a new research program at IWH on these topics.

Text reads: At the next IWH Speaker Series presentation... Preventing falls from heights in Ontario's construction sector Dr. Lynda Robson December 13, 2022, 11:00a.m. to noon www.iwh.on.ca Tinted background shows man working on the roof of a new residential build
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IWH Speaker Series: Effectiveness of mandatory training standard to prevent falls from heights

In 2015, the Ontario government implemented a working-at-heights (WAH) training standard to ramp up fall prevention efforts. An IWH study team, led by IWH Scientist Dr. Lynda Robson, has now gathered two additional years of data on the effectiveness of this training requirement. Find out what the team learned at our next IWH Speaker Series webinar, taking place on December 13.

Two male workers assemble vegetable crates in a warehouse
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Employers struggle to provide newcomers with OHS training and support, IWH study finds

Employers are responsible for providing occupational health and safety (OHS) training and support to keep workers safe. When it comes to workers who are new to Canada, however, workplaces face particular challenges following through on this responsibility.

Police sirens at night
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Now available: New resource on return to work in policing

A resource is now available on the return-to-work (RTW) challenges in policing and ways to address them. As outlined by Dr. Dwayne Van Eerd in an IWH Speaker Series webinar on October 18, this four-page resource describes the challenges along three key themes—accommodation, communication and trust-building. This resource is intended for members, both sworn and civilian, in Ontario’s police services. 

A woman takes notes at a desk while attending a videoconference on the computer monitor
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How does real-time online training compare with face-to-face formats?

When much of work-related training went virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic, providers of occupational health and safety training naturally began asking questions about the effectiveness of online real-time formats. In a recent study, a research team at the Institute for Work & Health reviewed the research literature to date. So how does synchronous or real-time online learning compare with face-to-face methods? A new plain-language summary outlines the evidence.

A man and a woman work together to push a trolley through a warehouse
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New review sums up sex/gender differences in work injury and illness outcomes

Men and women may be part of the labour force in roughly equal proportions. But many jobs and industries are still dominated by one sex/gender or another. In that light, a new systematic review at IWH looks at how work exposures and injury/illness outcomes are different for men and women.

13 colourful cardboards, each with a question mark cut-out in the middle, overlap each other in a pile
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Widely used survey unable to isolate specific psychosocial work dimensions

Guarding Minds @ Work is a widely used survey designed to measure 13 psychosocial dimensions of the work environment that have the potential to affect worker mental health. However, a joint study by the Institute for Work & Health and Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers finds the survey unable to measure each of the 13 dimensions in isolation. This has implications for workplaces that use the measure to assess how well they are doing on specific psychosocial dimensions, such as workforce civility and respect, workload management and more, says the research team.

Wooden block letters spelling out R O I, with colourful arrows pointing to them
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New policy briefing: estimating the ROI of OHS spending

What’s the return-on-investment (ROI) for every dollar employers spend on occupational health and safety? A team at IWH has come up with an estimate for three Ontario sectors—manufacturing, construction and transportation—based on previous research and on Workplace Safety and Insurance Board data.

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WSIB Health & Safety Excellence Program makes use of IWH safety culture measure

A version of the IWH-Organizational Performance Metric (IWH-OPM) is used by Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) to let workplaces in its Health and Safety Excellence Program measure their safety culture against a benchmark. The measure also allows the compensation agency to track trends in safety culture over time among participating organizations.

A long-term care worker pushes a resident in a wheelchair down the hall
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Participatory ergonomics a sustainable OHS approach in long-term care

Frontline workers know better than anyone what musculoskeletal (MSD) hazards they encounter on the job—and how to solve them. Participatory ergonomics is an occupational health and safety (OHS) approach that puts worker involvement front and centre. An IWH study led by Scientist Dr. Dwayne Van Eerd found this approach can be successfully implemented and sustained—even in busy long-term care facilities challenged by staff shortages and high turnover.