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
- Creating safe workplaces for newcomers. Funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Developing approaches to measuring the dimensions of gender and their relationship to health outcomes. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Ongoing. (PI on the project)
- Evaluating the effectiveness of distance learning in delivering Ontario's JHSC certification training. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development. Ongoing.
- Evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of Ontario’s working-at-heights training standard. Funded by Ontario Ministry of Labour. Ongoing.
- Examining sex/gender differences in exposures to workplace-acquired communicable disease: a systematic review. Funded by WorkSafeBC. Ongoing.
Publications
- Smith PM, LaMontagne AD. What is needed to make research on the psychosocial work environment and health more meaningful? Reflections and missed opportunities in IPD debates. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 2015;41(6):594-596. doi:10.5271/sjweh.3519.
- Smith PM. Workplace climate, employee actions, work injury and structural equation modelling. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2015;72(7):465-466. doi:10.1136/oemed-2015-102850.
- Roberts MH, Sim MR, Black O, Smith PM. Occupational injury risk among ambulance officers and paramedics compared with other healthcare workers in Victoria, Australia: analysis of workers' compensation claims from 2003 to 2012. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2015;72(7):489-495. doi:10.1136/oemed-2014-102574.
- Milner A, Smith PM, LaMontagne AD. Working hours and mental health in Australia: evidence from an Australian population-based cohort, 2001-2012. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2015;72(8):573-579. doi:10.1136/oemed-2014-102791.
- Smith PM, Saunders R, Lifshen M, Black O, Lay M, Breslin FC, LaMontagne AD, Tompa E. The development of a conceptual model and self-reported measure of occupational health and safety vulnerability. Accident Analysis and Prevention. 2015;82:234-243. doi:10.1016/j.aap.2015.06.004.
Speaker Series presentations
- Examining gender/sex differences in work injury risk, consequences of work injury and the relationship between work stress and chronic disease. IWH Speaker Series. October 14, 2014.
- The impact of job strain on the risk of depression. IWH Speaker Series. October 25, 2011.
- Examining changes in injuries submitted as no-lost-time claims in Ontario between 1991 and 2006. IWH Speaker Series. October 12, 2010.
- Examining trends in no-lost-time claims in Ontario, 1991-2006. IWH Speaker Series. March 31, 2009.
- An examination of the working conditions and risk factors for work-related injuries among immigrant workers in Ontario. IWH Speaker Series. February 3, 2009.
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