Dr. Peter Smith
Dr. Peter Smith is scientific co-director and a senior scientist at the Institute for Work & Health in Toronto. He also holds appointments as an associate professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and in the School of Population Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University in Australia.
Smith has a master's in public health from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a PhD from the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. He is a previous recipient of a five-year Research Chair in Gender, Work and Health (2014-2018) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR),a CIHR New Investigator Award (2008-2013) and a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council (2012-2014).
Smith has extensive experience conducting research related to work injury and its consequences using large population-based surveys and administrative workers' compensation data. His key research interests include: gender and sex differences in the relationship between work and the risk of chronic disease and work injury; the nature and measurement of occupational health and safety vulnerability; return-to-work experiences for people with mental health conditions; and the long-term outcomes of injured workers.
“I don’t understand how people can think about health without thinking about work. Between our early 20s and our 60s – and later for some people – we spend most of our waking hours at work. It makes sense, then, that aspects of work must have an impact on different aspects of our health, both positively and negatively. That drives me to better understand what good work and bad work look like from a health and return-to-work perspective.” – Dr. Peter Smith
Research areas
Projects
- Accommodating and Communicating about Episodic Disabilities (ACED): A partnership to deliver workplace resources to sustain employment of people with chronic, episodic conditions. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada Signature Initiative. Ongoing.
- Cannabis and workplace fatalities: establishing a baseline in Ontario. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Developing recommendations for an integrated approach to workplace health protection and health promotion. Funded by Alberta OHS Future. Ongoing.
- Do work exposures and their effects differ for men and women? A systematic review. Funded by WorkSafeBC. Ongoing.
- Evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of Ontario’s working-at-heights training standard. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour. Ongoing.
Publications
- Gilbert-Ouimet M, Glazier RH, Brisson C, Mustard C, Smith PM. Job strain, overweight, and diabetes: a 13-year prospective study among 12,896 men and women in Ontario. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2021;83(2):187-195. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000898.
- Shahidi FV, Gignac MA, Oudyk J, Smith PM. Assessing the psychosocial work environment in relation to mental health: a comprehensive approach. Annals of Work Exposures and Health. 2021 [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1093/annweh/wxaa130.
- Dobson KG , Vigod SN, Mustard C, Smith PM. Major depressive episodes and employment earnings trajectories over the following decade among working-aged Canadian men and women. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2021;285:37-46. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2021.02.019.
- Quinn MM, Harper A, Rydz E, Smith PM, Koehoorn M W, Peters CE. Men and women at work in Canada, 1991-2016. Labour & Industry. 2021 [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1080/10301763.2021.1872841.
- Biswas A, Begum M, Van Eerd D, Smith PM, Gignac MA. Organizational perspectives on how to successfully integrate health promotion activities into occupational health and safety. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2021 [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000002087.
Speaker Series presentations
- Differences in the return-to-work process for work-related psychological and musculoskeletal conditions: findings from an Australian cohort. IWH Speaker Series. April 6, 2021.
- More than just COVID-19 prevention: Exploring the links between PPE, safe work protocols and workers' mental health. IWH Speaker Series. November 10, 2020.
- Reporting and consequences of workplace violence in six Ontario hospitals. IWH Speaker Series. May 22, 2018.
- Towards a better understanding of differences in the risk of workplace violence for men and women in Canada. IWH Speaker Series. March 27, 2018.
- Evaluating the impact of mandatory awareness training in Ontario. IWH Speaker Series. April 11, 2017.
Interviews and articles
- What research can do: Workplace COVID outbreaks reported by Ontario public health account for one in 20 cases in working-age adults. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 103, Winter 2021.
- Ontario locks down on Boxing Day, but essential workers still work. Without protections like paid sick leave, it just won’t work. Inside Halton. December 23, 2020. Available from: https://www.insidehalton.com/opinion-story/10296074-ontario-locks-down-on-boxing-day-but-essential-workers-still-work-without-protections-like-paid-sick-leave-it-just-won-t-work/
- Study links inadequate PPE, COVID-19 infection controls to worker mental health issues. Safety + Health. December 14, 2020. Available from: https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/20630-study-links-inadequate-ppe-covid-19-infection-controls-to-worker-mental-health-issues
- Unsafe workplaces during COVID-19 taking huge toll on workers’ mental health. Toronto Star. December 14, 2020. Available from: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/12/14/unsafe-workplaces-during-covid-19-taking-huge-toll-on-workers-mental-health.html
- Adequacy of COVID infection control and PPE linked to workers’ mental health: study. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 102, Fall 2020.