Dr. Basak Yanar
Dr. Basak Yanar is an associate scientist at the Institute for Work & Health, and an assistant professor in the division of Social and Behavioural Health Sciences in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She holds a PhD in organizational behaviour from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
Yanar’s research interests lie at the intersection of migration, work, and occupational health and safety (OHS). She studies the working conditions of newcomers to Canada and the role played by employers, the settlement sector and the OHS prevention system in promoting safe work integration of recent immigrants and refugees. Her emerging program of research explores managing workplace health and safety within the context of linguistic and cultural diversity. As a social scientist with disciplinary training in organizational behaviour, Yanar is also interested in the psychosocial work environment and the ways organizations can promote healthier and safer workplaces.
Yanar is a qualitative researcher with a keen interest in collaboration with community organizations, employers and system partners in developing solutions to improve the health and safety of immigrant workers.
“Thinking about occupational health and safety in Canada, it is impossible not to think of immigrant workers. As Canada continues to rely on immigration for its economic growth, we need to understand how to better promote safety in linguistically and culturally diverse workplaces, and address the vulnerable working conditions immigrants find themselves in, whether they have recently arrived or not.” – Dr. Basak Yanar
Research areas
Projects
- Return to work in policing: synthesizing current practices and implementation guidance. Funded by Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario. Ongoing.
- Estimating the financial benefits of OHS prevention expenditures: a study of Ontario employers. Funded by Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario. Completed.
- Role of employers and settlement agencies in safe employment integration. Completed. (PI on the project)
- Strengthening disability management in Ontario’s municipal sector. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Social Sciences Humanities Research Council Signature Initiative. Completed.
- IWH Organizational Performance Metric: Developing and evaluating a simple workplace OHS tool. Funded by Workplace Safety & Insurance Board, Ontario Ministry of Labour. Completed.
Publications
- Mustard C, Yanar B. Estimating the financial benefits of employers' occupational health and safety expenditures. Safety Science. 2023;159:106008. doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2022.106008.
- Yanar B, Nasir K, Massoud A, Usmani S, Premji S, Smith PM. Employers' experiences with safe work integration of recent immigrants and refugees. Safety Science. 2022;155:105856. doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105856.
- Mustard C, Tompa E, Yanar B, Saunders R. Estimating the financial return on employers’ investments in the prevention of work injuries in Ontario. Institute for Work & Health; 2022.
- Kosny A, Yanar B, Begum M, Al-khooly D, Premji S, Lay M, Smith PM. Safe employment integration of recent immigrants and refugees. Journal of International Migration and Integration. 2020;21(3):807-827. doi:10.1007/s12134-019-00685-w.
- Premji S, Kosny A, Yanar B, Begum M. Tool for the meaningful consideration of language barriers in qualitative health research. Qualitative Health Research. 2020;30(2):167-181. doi:10.1177/1049732319856303.
Speaker Series presentations
- Estimating the financial benefits of OHS spending: a study of Ontario employers . IWH Speaker Series. February 14, 2023.
- Safe work integration of newcomers: Employer perspectives. IWH Speaker Series. October 13, 2020.
- Capacity building and evaluation of OHS training in settlement agencies. IWH Speaker Series. January 28, 2020.
- Safe employment integration of recent immigrants and refugees. IWH Speaker Series. October 31, 2017.
Interviews and articles
- Report urges worker safety while respecting cultural differences. Daily Commercial News. January 18, 2023. Available from: https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/labour/2023/01/report-urges-worker-safety-while-respecting-cultural-differences
- Employers struggle to provide newcomers with OHS training, support: IWH study. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 110, Fall 2022.
- IWH estimates point to positive return on OHS investment in three Ontario sectors. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 109, Summer 2022.
- Study finds positive ROI in workplace safety and health in three key sectors. Safety+Health. June 1, 2022.
- Supporting settlement agencies to raise OHS awareness among newcomers. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 100, Spring 2020.