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Our annual edition of 5 Things We Think You Should Know is out now! This publication outlines five IWH research findings from the past year that we think can make a difference to workplace injury and disability prevention programs. It's available online and as a sharable PDF.

November 3, 2023 (Toronto, Ontario)—In the three-year period after Ontario made working-at-heights training in the construction sector standardized and mandatory, the rate of fall-from-height injuries leading to time off work fell by 19 per cent, a study by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) has found.

If someone experiences depression, what is the impact on the length of their future working life? It depends on how, and when, someone experiences depression. An IWH study found five trajectories of depression in working adults, each with varied impacts on their future years of work.

October 12, 2023 (Toronto, Ontario)—Working conditions can have an impact on health and unequal health outcomes across the population. As a result, decision-makers from across different government departments should take greater note of work as a social determinant of health. That is a key message from a series of three papers published today in one of the world’s leading medical journals, The Lancet.

One in seven workers with a work-related physical injury or illness said they used cannabis to treat the condition. That’s according to an IWH study based on interviews conducted with workers 18 to 36 months after their work-related illness or injury. Importantly, most of these workers had not received medical guidance on the therapeutic use of cannabis.

A recent IWH study examined the experiences of sworn and civilian Ontario police service members returning to their jobs after experiencing an injury or illness. The research team found that their return-to-work (RTW) challenges revolved around five main themes.

What are the most urgent research questions on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on worker health and safety? Using expert insights, an IWH team has developed a four-part agenda to guide AI research and spark conversations between workplaces, workers and regulators. Its goal is to ensure worker health and safety are at the forefront of AI policy and adoption in the workplace.

While primary care physicians play an important role in helping ill and injured workers return to work (RTW), they have a variety of learning needs about how to best navigate the RTW process. That’s according to an IWH study that found that physicians could benefit from additional training in four main areas: administrative tasks, personal beliefs about RTW, specific occupational health issues and available RTW services and tools.

IWH Scientist Dr. Arif Jetha takes on a new role as associate scientific director, effective September 1. In this role, he will work with the scientific director to ensure the standards of scientific evidence are maintained at IWH and that the scientific objectives set out in the IWH 2023-2027 Strategic Plan are fulfilled. Jetha will also play an active role in providing mentorship to IWH scientific staff, particularly those early in their careers, as well as post-doctoral, doctoral and masters students.

The first two rounds of the world’s first ECHO program on occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) have wrapped up, and preparation is underway for a third round this fall. We spoke to some of the health-care practitioners who attended the first two rounds to learn how ECHO OEM has helped with their most challenging return-to-work cases.