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
- Developing a framework for understanding and measuring OHS vulnerability. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Completed. (PI on the project)
- Ontario Leading Indicators Project. Completed.
Publications
- Carnide N, Lee H, Frone MR, Furlan AD, Smith PM. Patterns and correlates of workplace and non-workplace cannabis use among Canadian workers before the legalization of non-medical cannabis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2021;218:108386. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108386.
- Smith PM, Oudyk J, Potter G, Mustard C. The association between the perceived adequacy of workplace infection control procedures and personal protective equipment with mental health symptoms: a cross-sectional survey of Canadian health-care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2021;66(1):17-24. doi:10.1177/0706743720961729.
- 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;63(4):270-284. doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000002087.
- Quinn TD, Yorio PL, Smith PM, Seo Y, Whitfield GP, Gibbs BB. Occupational physical activity and cardiovascular disease in the United States. Occupational & Environmental Medicine. 2021;78(10):724-30. doi:10.1136/oemed-2020-106948.
- Dobson KG , Vigod SN, Mustard C, Smith PM. Trends in the prevalence of depression and anxiety disorders among working-age Canadian adults between 2000 and 2016. Health Reports. 2020;31(12):12-23. doi:10.25318/82-003-x202001200002-eng.
Speaker Series presentations
- 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.
- Understanding return to work in MSD claims versus psychological injuries, for younger workers versus older workers. IWH Speaker Series. September 29, 2015.
- Developing a measure of OHS vulnerability. IWH Speaker Series. January 20, 2015.
Interviews and articles
- Q&A: New IWH president talks about his role, how he got here, and plans for the years ahead. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 107, Winter 2022.
- How the City of Toronto is supporting employee mental health in 2022 and beyond. Benefits Canada. January 3, 2022. Available from: https://www.benefitscanada.com/benefits/health-benefits/how-the-city-of-toronto-is-supporting-employee-mental-health-in-2022-and-beyond/
- Analyzing the data behind workplace spread of COVID-19. OHS Canada. December 9, 2021. Available from: https://www.ohscanada.com/features/analyzing-the-data-behind-workplace-spread-of-covid-19/
- In most sectors, workplaces saw lower COVID transmission rates than in the community. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 106, Fall 2021.
- Lessons from COVID-19 for the next pandemic: We need better data on workplace transmission. The Conversation. November 9, 2021. Available from: https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-covid-19-for-the-next-pandemic-we-need-better-data-on-workplace-transmission-170023