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 an evidence base on sex/gender differences in the relationship between working conditions and injury risk, chronic illnesses and return to work. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Completed. (PI on the project)
- Evaluating the impact of mandatory awareness training on occupational health and safety vulnerability in Ontario. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Ontario Ministry of Labour's Research Opportunities Program. Completed. (PI on the project)
- IWH Organizational Performance Metric: Developing and evaluating a simple workplace OHS tool. Funded by Workplace Safety & Insurance Board, Ontario Ministry of Labour. Completed.
- Exploring the relationship between prolonged standing and prolonged sitting at work and heart disease among male and female workers. Completed. (PI on the project)
- Incidence of work-related aggression and violence in Canada. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour. Completed. (PI on the project)
Publications
- Dobson KG , Ibrahim S, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Mustard C, Smith PM. Association between psychosocial work conditions and latent alcohol consumption trajectories among men and women over a 16-year period in a national Canadian sample. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 2018;72:113-120. doi:10.1136/jech-2017-209691.
- Breslin FC, Lay M, Jetha A, Smith PM. Examining occupational health and safety vulnerability among Canadian workers with disabilities. Disability and Rehabilitation. 2018;40(18):2138-2143. doi:10.1080/09638288.2017.1327985.
- Jetha A, LaMontagne AD, Lilley R, Hogg-Johnson S, Sim MR, Smith PM. Workplace social system and sustained return-to-work: a study of supervisor and co-worker supportiveness and injury reaction. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2018;28(3):486-494. doi:10.1007/s10926-017-9724-z.
- Smith PM, Huiting M, Glazier RH, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Mustard C. The relationship between occupational standing and sitting and incident heart disease over a 12-year period in Ontario, Canada. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2018;187(1):27–33. doi:10.1093/aje/kwx298.
- Black O, Sim MR, Collie A, Smith PM. Early-claim modifiable factors associated with return-to-work self-efficacy among workers injured at work: are there differences between psychological and musculoskeletal injuries?. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine. 2017;59(12):e257-e262. doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000001172.
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
- Work-related mental illnesses cost more than physical injuries do. Talent Canada. May 11, 2021. Available from: https://www.talentcanada.ca/work-related-mental-illnesses-cost-more-than-physical-injuries/
- 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