IWH Updates

Published: November 15, 2016

2015 Annual Report celebrates 25 years of Institute for Work & Health

Since its beginnings in 1990, the Toronto-based Institute for Work & Health (IWH) has become a world leader in providing evidence-based insights into the prevention of worker injury, illness and disability— in Ontario, Canada and beyond. To mark IWH’s 25th anniversary, the 2015 Annual Report looks back at the Institute’s research and the impact this work has had on improving policies and practices that protect workers from occupational injury, illness and disability. It tracks the progress of research in such areas as musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) prevention, effective workplace health and safety practices, protecting vulnerable workers, improving return-to-work practices, improving compensation and benefit programs, and contributing to the development of research practices. Download the annual report.

New injury prevention tools for workplace use

Workplaces have two new tools to help assess areas needing further work injury prevention efforts. The Institute’s Organizational Performance Metric (IWH-OPM) is an eight-item leading indicator tool that has been shown to predict work injury rates three years down the road. It can be downloaded at: www.iwh.on.ca/tools-and-guides/iwh-organizational-performance-metric-iwh-opm. Also, the OHS Vulnerability Measure is a 27-item employee survey that measures the extent to which workers may be vulnerable to occupational health and safety (OHS) risks at work. It can be found at: www.iwh.on.ca/tools-and-guides/ohs-vulnerability-measure.

Plenary slidecasts now with Q&A

IWH plenaries are hour-long presentations on a work and health research topic, held at the Institute and open to the public. Those unable to attend in person may afterward listen to the slidecasts, posted at www.iwh.on.ca/events and on IWH’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/iwhresearch. Starting September 2016, many slidecasts also contain a link to the Q&A segment of the presentation. Look for that link by clicking on the “show more” button below the video.