Plain-language summaries
Institute for Work & Health (IWH) plain-language summaries condense research findings in various formats. At Work articles explain study results with comments from the study leads. Research Highlights summarize journal articles in easy-to-read, digest formats. Sharing Best Evidence summaries highlight findings from systematic reviews and other types of reviews conducted or led by IWH researchers. Issue Briefings discuss key research findings from IWH or elsewhere on topics that are of particular interest to policy-makers.
At Work article
Flexible work in the high-tech sector: does it really meet workers’ needs?
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Sharing Best Evidence
Prevention programs for health-care workers
Health-care workers face a high risk of developing injuries to their muscles, tendons or other soft-tissues, including back pain. These injuries are also known as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). IWH conducted a systematic review to summarize the existing scientific literature on the effectiveness of MSD prevention programs for health-care workers.
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Research Highlights
More time in sports, but not work, increases youth injury risk
A study of overall injury risk finds time spent in sports and recreational activities raises the risk of injury more than time spent at work.
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Research Highlights
Only one in five new workers receive safety training in Canada
Despite the legal requirement in most provinces for employers to provide health and safety to new workers, only one in five new workers actually receive such training, study finds.
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Research Highlights
Workers with back injuries show four recovery patterns
People with back injuries may experience different patterns of recovery. Knowing how people recover may help clinicians who treat patients with back injuries.
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Research Highlights
Disability management programs differ greatly in Ontario health-care sector
Health-care workers are more likely to miss work because of illness and disability than workers in other sectors. This study compares disability management practices across four types of health-care workplaces: hospitals, nursing homes, private clinics and community clinics.
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Research Highlights
Youth injury rates vary across Ontario regions
A study examining work injury rates for 15- to 24-year-olds in 46 regions across Ontario finds great variation rates among young workers vary greatly across the province.
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Research Highlights
Study finds hospital costs for injured sawmill workers
A portion of health-care costs among injured sawmill workers in British Columbia are not reimbursed by the provincial workers' compensation agency, suggesting that prevention efforts could target the more costly injuries to reduce hospital costs.
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Research Highlights
Decline in lost-time claims is linked to drop in hazardous jobs
An overall decline in workers' compensation lost-time claim rates in Ontario from 1990 to 2003, partly explained by decreases in the industrial sectors of the number of people working in manual jobs.
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