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
- Validation study of Occupational Stress Injury Resiliency Tool. Funded by Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD), Public Services Health & Safety Association (PSHSA). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- What are the long-term health and labour market outcomes of workers who experienced work-related COVID-19 transmission?. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Do work exposures and their effects differ for men and women? A systematic review. Funded by WorkSafeBC. Completed.
- Improving information on the incidence of work-related injuries and illnesses in Ontario. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour Research Opportunities Program . Completed.
- Developing recommendations for an integrated approach to workplace health protection and health promotion. Funded by Alberta OHS Future. Completed.
Publications
- Fagerlind Stahl AC, Stahl C, Smith PM. Longitudinal association between psychological demands and burnout for employees experiencing a high versus a low degree of job resources. BMC Public Health. 2018;18(1):915. doi:10.1186/s12889-018-5778-x.
- Cocker F, Sim MR, Kelsall H, Smith PM. The association between time taken to report, lodge, and start wage replacement and return-to-work outcomes. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2018;60(7):622-630. doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000001294.
- Lanthier S, Bielecky A, Smith PM. Examining risk of workplace violence in Canada: a sex/gender-based analysis. Annals of Work Exposures and Health. 2018;62(8):1012-1020. doi:10.1093/annweh/wxy066.
- Fan J, Smith PM. Self-reported work conditions in Canada: examining changes between 2002 and 2012. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 2018;109:882-890. doi:10.17269/s41997-018-0096-8.
- Lane TJ, Lilley R, Hogg-Johnson S, LaMontagne AD, Sim MR, Smith PM. A prospective cohort study of the impact of return-to-work coordinators in getting injured workers back on the job. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2018;28(2):298-306. doi:10.1007/s10926-017-9719-9.
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.
Interviews and articles
- Women four times more likely to experience sexual assault at work. The Conversation. January 22, 2019. Available from: https://theconversation.com/women-four-times-more-likely-to-experience-sexual-assault-at-work-108380
- Sitting or standing too much at work? New video addresses ways to lower associated health risks. Safety + Health. December 27, 2018. Available from: https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/17906-sitting-or-standing-too-much-at-work-new-video-addresses-ways-to-lower-associated-health-risks
- Slight improvements seen in workplace psychosocial conditions over 10 years. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 94, Fall 2018.
- Developing a new screening tool of psychosocial hazards . At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 94, Fall 2018.
- Longer hours linked to diabetes risk in women: Study. Canadian HR Reporter. November 7, 2018. Available from: https://www.hrreporter.com/workplace-health-and-wellness/38516-longer-hours-linked-to-diabetes-risk-in-women-study/