Dr. Basak Yanar
Dr. Basak Yanar is an associate scientist at the Institute for Work & Health.
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 occupational health and safety within the context of linguistic and cultural diversity.
Trained as an organizational behaviour researcher, Yanar is also interested in how organizations can achieve and sustain high levels of health and safety performance and promote the physical and psychological well-being of their employees. She 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.
Before joining the Institute, Yanar taught as a sessional faculty at the University Toronto and the University of Windsor.
“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.
- Role of employers and settlement agencies in safe employment integration. Ongoing. (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.
- Information and resource needs of newcomers to help ensure their safe integration into the labour market. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Completed.
Publications
- 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.
- Yanar B, Robson LS, Tonima S, Amick B. Understanding the organizational performance metric, an occupational health and safety management tool, through workplace case studies. International Journal of Workplace Health Management. 2020;13(2):117-138. doi:10.1108/IJWHM-09-2018-0126.
- Jetha A, Yanar B, Lay M, Mustard C. Work disability management communication bottlenecks within large and complex public service organizations: a sociotechnical systems study. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2019;29(4):754-763. doi:10.1007/s10926-019-09836-3.
- Yanar B, Kosny A, Lifshen M. Perceived role and expectations of health care providers in return to work. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2019;29(1):212-221. doi:10.1007/s10926-018-9781-y.
Speaker Series presentations
- 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
- Supporting settlement agencies to raise OHS awareness among newcomers. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 100, Spring 2020.
- Can an eight-item questionnaire pick up on real-world differences in OHS practice?. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 99, Winter 2020.
- New beginnings: Recent immigrants need more support to reduce their heightened risk of injury. Canadian Occupational Safety. August 14, 2019. Available from: https://www.cos-mag.com/personal-process-safety/40654-global-study-explores-best-practices-for-recent-immigrant-safety/
- Construction safety association develops OHS assessment tool with IWH’s expertise . At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 97, Summer 2019.
- Supportive supervisors help reduce risks when workers face hazards, lack protection . At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 95, Winter 2019.