Dr. Peter Smith
Dr. Peter Smith is president and senior scientist at the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) in Toronto, and a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Prior to moving into the president's role in January 2022, Smith was IWH's scientific co-director.
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 former recipient of a New Investigator Award (2008-2013) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR),a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council (2012-2014), and a five-year CIHR Research Chair in Gender, Work and Health (2014-2018).
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 health; labour market inequalities and their health-related outcomes; labour market experiences of newcomers, older workers, younger workers and other vulnerable labour force subgroups; chronic illnesses and work injury; and trends in working conditions over time.
“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
Projects
- Ontario Life After Work Injury Study: Understanding the long-term recovery and labour market outcomes of injured workers in the shadow of COVID-19. Funded by Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. Ongoing.
- Partnership on AI and the Quality of work (PAIQ) . Funded by Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada. Ongoing.
- Toking 9 to 5: Workplace cannabis use and perceptions among Canadian workers. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Trends in the severity of work-related injury in Ontario. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD). Ongoing.
- Understanding the injury experience of Ontario small businesses through workers’ compensation claims data. Funded by Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD). Ongoing.
Publications
- Dobson KG , Mustard C, Carnide N, Furlan AD, Smith PM. Impact of persistent pain symptoms on work absence, health status and employment 18 months following disabling work-related injury or illness. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2022;79(10):697-705. doi:10.1136/oemed-2022-108383.
- Padkapayeva K, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Mustard C, Glazier RH, Smith PM. The relationship between overqualification and incident diabetes: a 14-year follow-up study. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2022;84(6):719-726. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000001087.
- 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.
- Carnide N, Lee H, Landsman V, Frone MR, Furlan AD, Smith PM. Cannabis use and workplace cannabis availability, perceptions and policies among Canadian workers: a comparison before and after the legalisation of non-medical cannabis. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2022 epub ahead of print. doi:10.1136/oemed-2022-108316.
- Smith PM, Oudyk J, Cedillo L, Inouye K, Potter G, Mustard C. The psychosocial work environment among educators during the COVID-19 pandemic. Occupational Medicine. 2022;72(7):439-445. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqac050.
Speaker Series presentations
- Refining estimates of occupational exposures and risk of workplace COVID-19 transmission. IWH Speaker Series. January 16, 2024.
- Building on the past, looking to the future: Presenting the IWH Strategic Plan, 2023-27. IWH Speaker Series. May 23, 2023.
- Workplace COVID-19 protections and transmission: Findings from population-level data in Canada. IWH Speaker Series. October 19, 2021.
- 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.
Research summaries
- What research can do: Partnering on a tool to estimate occupational risks of COVID. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, August 2021.
- Inadequate employment standards, OHS vulnerability add to higher injury risks. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, August 2021.
- Weaker OHS procedures, policies explain small employers’ higher injury risks: study. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, May 2021.
- What research can do: Workplace COVID outbreaks reported by Ontario public health account for one in 20 cases in working-age adults. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, March 2021.
- Adequacy of COVID infection control and PPE linked to workers’ mental health: study. At Work article: Institute for Work & Health, November 2020.
Media coverage
- In Ontario's housing crisis, immigrants are the scapegoat and the solution. The Local. January 29, 2025. Available from: https://thelocal.to/construction-labour-housing-immigrants-foreign-workers/
- Calling for mental health awareness in construction. Builders Digest: Media Edge Publishing, for Toronto Construction Association. October 23, 2024. Available from: https://www.mediaedgemagazines.com/toronto-construction-association-tca/tc242
- The impact of work on well-being: 6 factors that will affect the future of work and health inequalities. The Conversation Canada. October 15, 2023. Available from: https://theconversation.com/the-impact-of-work-on-well-being-6-factors-that-will-affect-the-future-of-work-and-health-inequalities-215047
- Educators lack protection in-class and support online, studies find. Workers Health & Safety Centre. November 17, 2022. Available from: https://www.whsc.on.ca/What-s-new/News-Archive/Educators-lack-protection-in-class-and-support-online-studies-find
- They made doors, gum and jerry cans. Ontario’s ‘essential’ workers in manufacturing accounted for more workplace COVID deaths than any other sector — even health care. Toronto Star. October 27, 2022. Available from: https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2022/10/27/they-made-tile-gum-and-jerry-cans-ontarios-essential-workers-in-manufacturing-accounted-for-more-workplace-covid-deaths-than-any-other-sector-even-health-care.html