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
- 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.
- Artificial intelligence and occupational injury and illness in Ontario: implications for prevention and recovery. Funded by Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. Ongoing.
- Assessing the psychosocial work environment in British Columbia to inform prevention activities . Funded by Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD), WorkSafeBC. Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Cannabis and workplace fatalities: establishing a baseline in Ontario. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Correcting for participation bias in non-probability samples using multiple reference samples. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
Publications
- Dimitriadis C, LaMontagne AD, Lilley R, Hogg-Johnson S, Sim MR, Smith PM. Cohort profile: workers' compensation in a changing Australian labour market: the return to work (RTW) study. BMJ Open. 2017;7(11):e016366. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016366.
- McInnes JA, MacFarlane EM, Sim MR, Smith PM. Working in hot weather: a review of policies and guidelines to minimise the risk of harm to Australian workers. Injury Prevention. 2017;23:334-339. doi:10.1136/injuryprev-2016-042204.
- McInnes JA, MacFarlane EM, Sim MR, Smith PM. The impact of sustained hot weather on risk of acute work-related injury in Melbourne, Australia. International Journal of Biometeorology. 2017;62:153–163. doi:10.1007/s00484-017-1435-9.
- Ferrario MM, Landsbergis P, Tsutsumi A, Li J, Hynek P, Krause N, Smith PM, Holtermann A, Clays AE. Work environment: an opportunity for ground-breaking collaborations in cardiovascular disease prevention. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. 2017;24(2):4. doi:10.1177/2047487317698913.
- Lay M, Saunders R, Lifshen M, Breslin FC, LaMontagne AD, Tompa E, Smith PM. The relationship between occupational health and safety vulnerability and workplace injury. Safety Science. 2017;94:85. doi: 10.1016/j.ssci.2016.12.021.
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
- Injuries at work may increase risk of losing one's job. Reuters Health. February 5, 2016. Available from: http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-workplace-injury-idUKKCN0VE2MW
- Distinct types of OHS vulnerability seen in young, temporary, small business employees. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 82, Fall 2015.
- The vulnerable worker. OOHNA Journal . October 27, 2015. Available from: https://www.iwh.on.ca/sites/iwh/files/oohna_journal_fw_2015_vulnerability.pdf
- Line blurred between lost-time, no lost-time claims: Study. Canadian Occupational Safety: Thomson Reuters Canada (Toronto, ON). September 15, 2015. Available from: http://www.cos-mag.com/safety/safety-stories-exclusive/4664-line-blurred-between-lost-time-no-lost-time-claims-study.html
- Study: Time-loss injuries may depend on work demands, premium rates. Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News: Business Information Group (Toronto, ON). April 24, 2015. Available from: https://www.ohscanada.com/study-time-loss-injuries-may-depend-on-work-demands-premium-rates-2/