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.
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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Research Highlights
“Passive” coping may slow whiplash recovery
Passive coping strategies—for example, withdrawing from social activities due to pain or hoping for better pain medications—slow down recovery for people with whiplash, particularly those who also have depressive symptoms.
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Research Highlights
Whiplash after traffic accidents can lead to depression
Symptoms of depression appear to be relatively common after whiplash injury. They occur soon after the incident and can be persistent, especially if patients have a history of depressive symptoms.
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Research Highlights
Fitness training, rehabilitation don’t improve whiplash recovery
Rehabilitation programs such as fitness training, exercises and weight training are no better than the usual care to help patients recover from whiplash.
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Research Highlights
What are the main causes of hospitalization in sawmill workers?
A study of a large sample of sawmill workers from 1989 to 1997 finds falls and machinery are the main causes of injuries, but also that injury rates have been on the decline since 1994.
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Research Highlights
Work setting, hazards are key injury risk factors for youth
When it comes to injury risk among teenaged and young adult workers, the type of job or workplace matters more than the nature of the young workers themselves.
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Research Highlights
Early aggressive care delays recovery after whiplash, study confirms
Too much health care too early after a whiplash injury has a negative affect on a patient's recovery, a study finds. It confirms that the results of an earlier study are not due to chance.
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Research Highlights
Women, young workers, minorities are more likely to be “underemployed”
Some social groups are more likely than others to be affected negatively by changes in the labour market. What's more, these groups are also more susceptible to negative health effects of the insecurities that arise with these changes.
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Sharing Best Evidence
Is it worthwhile investing in health and safety programs?
Before employers invest in workplace health and safety interventions, they want to know the financial implications of their investment. The goal of this review was to explore whether such interventions are worthwhile from an economic point of view.
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Research Highlights
Some tasks put carpenters at higher risk for low-back pain
According to the first ergonomic analysis of job tasks in residential carpentry, some tasks put carpenters at significant risk of injury to the low back. First among them is standing or framing walls.
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Research Highlights
Do chiropractors recommend back radiographs too frequently?
Compared to trainees, practising chiropractors use radiography more often. Reasons include attendance at seminars or courses encouraging radiography use, financial pressures or fear of malpractice.
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Research Highlights
Workplace health and safety management systems show promise
A systematic review finds several studies showing mostly favourable evidence for occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) interventions. However, a lack of high-quality evidence means recommendations cannot be made in favour or against any particular one.
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Research Highlights
Citations, penalties from inspectors reduce workplace injuries
For regulation to be effective, regulators need to "be in the field" undertaking investigations and actively seeking out cases of non-compliance for regulation to be effective. The mere possibility of being inspected, cited and fined is not as effective as actually being inspected.
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Research Highlights
How young workers view workplace injuries
Young workers view workplace injuries as "part of the job," particularly when the injuries don't require medical attention, study finds. Furthermore, these workers generally don't think these less severe injuries are of interest to their managers.
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Research Highlights
Injured worker peer groups shed light on improving return to work
A study on the challenges injured workers face finds they join peer support groups when they feel misunderstood and unfairly treated.
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Research Highlights
Job settings, education linked to work disability in youth
Job characteristics are a main risk factor in occupational health and safety among young workers. Reducing the physical hazards of work through improved equipment and the work environment should be an important part of workplace safety, study finds.
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