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
- Exploring how daily patterns of sleep and activity affect the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality among Canadian workers . Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research . Ongoing.
- Exploring where Canadians work and live and their association with active transportation. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Future-proofing young Canadians with disabilities for the changing labour market. Funded by New Frontiers in Research Fund (a Tri-Agency Program—CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC). Ongoing.
- Intelligent machines and human worker inequities: examining the implications of AI in the workplace. Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC); Future Skills Centre. Ongoing.
- Occupational injury risks in Ontario. Funded by Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
Publications
- Jetha A, Besen E, Smith PM. Comparing the relationship between age and length of disability across common chronic conditions. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2016;58(5):485-491. doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000000702.
- Prang KH, Bohensky M, Smith PM, Collie A. Return to work outcomes for workers with mental health conditions: a retrospective cohort study. Injury. 2016;47(1):257-265. doi:10.1016/j.injury.2015.09.011.
- Smith PM, Koehoorn M. Measuring gender when you don't have a gender measure: constructing a gender index using survey data. International Journal for Equity in Health. 2016;15(1):82-. doi:10.1186/s12939-016-0370-4.
- Wong IS, Smith PM, Mustard C, Gignac MA. Health and occupational outcomes among injured, nonstandard shift workers. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine. 2015;57(11):1244-1249. doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000000551.
- Bielecky A, Chen C, Ibrahim S, Beaton DE, Mustard C, Smith PM. The impact of co-morbid mental and physical disorders on presenteeism. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 2015;41(6):554-564. doi:10.5271/sjweh.3524.
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
- Adequacy of COVID infection control and PPE linked to workers’ mental health: study. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 102, Fall 2020.
- COVID precautions protect workers' physical and mental health, study. Workers Health & Safety Centre. September 28, 2020. Available from: https://www.whsc.on.ca/What-s-new/News-Archive/COVID-precautions-protect-workers%E2%80%99-physical-and-mental-health-study
- Underreporting in injuries related to awareness of hazards, IWH report find. Daily Commercial News: Construction Connect (Toronto, ON). August 24, 2020. Available from: https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/ohs/2020/08/under-reporting-in-injuries-related-to-awareness-of-hazards-iwh-report-finds
- Workers exposed to common hazards more likely to report their injuries: IWH study. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 101, Summer 2020.
- Understanding challenges in hospitals’ workplace violence reporting systems. At Work: Institute for Work & Health; No. 101, Summer 2020.