Document directory

Decision-Support for Communicating about Invisible Disabilities that are Episodic (DCIDE ) is a free tool that aims to help workers consider whether or not to share some personal health information with others at work. 

Connecting for impact: The Institute for Work & Health's 2023/24 Annual report

On October 17, 2018, the non-medical use of cannabis was legalized in Canada. To examine the implications of this change for workplaces, the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) embarked on two research projects. The studies explored changes in cannabis consumption habits among workers; changes in their perceptions about such consumption; associations between cannabis consumption and occupational injury risks; as well as the use of cannabis to treat symptoms in the aftermath of a work-related injury/illness. This Issue Briefing provides an overview of findings from these two studies and the potential implications of this research for employers and policy-makers.

Machine learning is being adopted by more and more Canadian workplaces. Given this technology’s ability to learn, adapt and generate work outputs, it also has the potential to perform job tasks in place of humans. But which workers might be most affected by the use of machine learning? An IWH study explores this question.

The Ontario Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) contracted with Trillium Health / Insight Health Solutions to establish a mental health assessment and treatment specialty program to meet the needs of public safety personnel (PSP) with an accepted compensation claim arising from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To assess the specific benefits of the First Responder Mental Health Treatment (FRMHT) program, the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and the Institute for Better Health conducted a mixed-methods formative evaluation of the program with four components. This report summarizes findings from the fourth component, led by IWH. It was focused on interviews with representatives of public safety employer representatives who supported return-to work (RTW) among PSP with PTSD.

Walking, biking, or taking public transportation to work is one way workers can increase their physical activity. But does the choice to use active transportation differ for workers in different jobs, or between men and women? This study aimed to find out.

Formerly injured workers in certain occupations are at an elevated risk of experiencing opioid-related harms, according to a study by IWH and the Occupational Cancer Research Centre. Looking within a large sample of formerly injured Ontario workers, occupational groups with greater risks of harms included construction, forestry and logging, materials handling, and processing.

Nova Scotia's Make Your Move at Work (MYMAW) program is designed to help employers support their employees in adding more movement to the workday. It was informed by IWH research on Canadian workers' movement patterns and health, and how employers can integrate health promotion activities into the workplace.

The Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) of Ontario launched the Health and Safety Excellence Program (HSEp) in 2019 to help Ontario employers improve their management of workplace health and safety. In 2021, to increase the participation of small businesses, the WSIB and the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development adjusted several program features and launched the HSEp Small Business Program. This report summarizes the results from a study aimed at understanding the needs, motivations, and experiences of the selected cohort of small businesses in the program and identifying effective approaches to improve the delivery of occupational health and safety (OHS) services to small businesses.

Machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, is increasingly being used by Canadian workplaces to drive innovation and raise productivity. Given its capacity to learn, adapt, and generate outputs with increasing independence, this technology could be used to perform job tasks that are physical or cognitive in nature, across a broad range of industries and occupations. As the impacts of machine learning may be distributed inequitably across different occupations and worker groups, a study examined the occupational and worker characteristics that are linked to high or low machine learning exposure.

Building on research linking overtime work to depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns, an IWH study investigated how working unpaid overtime is associated with mental health in Canada’s working population. They found that that the more unpaid overtime hours worked, the more likely a worker is to report stress and burnout.

An IWH study examined how opioid harms in a large group of Ontario workers who had a work-related injury compared to harms in the general Ontario population. They found that the workers had higher risks of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for opioid-related harms. This pattern was seen across most occupations and industries within this group of workers.

The unpredictable and often invisible nature of episodic disabilities can make it challenging for workers to find and sustain employment while managing their fluctuating symptoms and work demands. For young adults navigating early career phases, these challenges may also have life-long impacts on their career progression and health. Researchers on an IWH study set out to investigate whether employment support programs for young adults with episodic disabilities may also impact their health.

Les tendances sociales, technologiques, économiques, environnementales et politiques modifient rapidement la nature et la disponibilité du travail. Ces changements seront source de défis et d’opportunités pour les jeunes personnes vivant avec un handicap qui entrent dans le monde du travail. Ce rapport résume les résultats d'une étude en plusieurs phases qui a utilisé une approche de recherche de consensus pour identifier les défis futurs auxquels les jeunes handicapés pourraient être confrontés et classer les différentes stratégies qui pourraient garantir que les jeunes handicapés trouvent et conservent un emploi dans les décennies à venir.

Social, technological, economic, environmental, and political trends are changing the nature and availability of work at a rapid rate. These changes will bring challenges and opportunities for young persons living with disabilities who are entering the working world. This report summarizes the results of a multi-phase study that used a consensus-building approach to identify the future challenges that may face young persons with disabilities and the rank the different strategies that might ensure young people with disabilities find and sustain employment in the decades ahead.

This guide is intended to help researchers and research organizations plan knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) strategies and activities to enhance the relevance, quality and use of their research to inform policy or practice.

A key program from Construction Health and Safety New Zealand—developed using IWH research—takes a participatory ergonomics approach to better prevent and manage musculoskeletal injuries among construction workers.

What's Next: The Institute for Work & Health's 2022/23 Annual report

An IWH study on the effectiveness of Ontario's mandatory training was helpful to the labour ministry in several ways—including in reinforcing the value of program evaluations.

While cannabis is often used recreationally, there is growing interest in its use for therapeutic purposes, such as for pain, anxiety, depression and sleep problems. Some workers are using cannabis many months following the onset of a work-related condition, whether to treat their condition or for other reasons, mostly without medical guidance.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the ongoing trend toward online learning in many spheres of life, including occupational health and safety (OHS) training. However, it's not clear whether online delivery methods are as effective as in-person methods. To help address the research gap, a study set out to compare face-to-face learning, online instructor-led synchronous distance learning and online self-paced e-learning training delivery methods. It centers on a provincially regulated standardized OHS training. The main research question asks whether the three training delivery methods differ in the post-training knowledge gain by learners. Secondary research questions are asked about other factors affecting knowledge achievement, other training outcomes, and learner suggestions for improving the training.

While primary care physicians play an important role in helping ill and injured workers return to work (RTW), they have a variety of learning needs about how to best navigate the RTW process. These needs fall in the areas of completing administrative tasks, challenging personal beliefs, understanding specific RTW issues and learning about available RTW services and tools.

In the first systematic review on the subject, IWH examined the research literature on racial and ethnic inequities in return to work. It found strong evidence that non-white workers are less likely than white workers to return to work following an injury or illness—and moderate evidence that Black workers face pronounced barriers.

After an IWH study filled a research gap on claim suppression in B.C. and helped make the case for change, the province amended legislation to strengthen protections against the practice.

According to an IWH study, Canadian workers typically fall into six patterns of daily movement. These six patterns are associated with varying levels of cardiometabolic disease risk. In general, workers with higher daily activity levels had lower levels of cardiometabolic disease risk factors, but those with moderate activity also showed lower risk factors.

IWH's 2023-2027 Strategic Plan lays out four key strategic directions that will guide the Institute for the next five-year period.

In the fall of 2022, an Institute for Work & Health (IWH) research team set out to examine how working life could change in Canada over the next seven years and what the implications might be for young adults with a disability. Using strategic foresight methods, the IWH team created three future scenarios that are designed to provoke discussion about the policies needed now to ensure an inclusive future for people with disabilities.

This tool identifies job demands that are difficult for a worker with a chronic, potentially episodic, health condition and suggests personalized accommodation ideas tailored to these demands that can help the worker continue to work comfortably, safety and productively.

When the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba decided to update its return-to-work training, it wanted to build confidence in the content by including evidence-based guidance from trusted sources. For a key part of the workshop, it turned to the Institute for Work & Health's "Seven Principles."

There is currently little to no information on the foundational and transferable skill levels of persons with disabilities (PWDs). Through a literature review and key informant interviews, a research team set out to identify and fill knowledge gaps, as well as help inform the development of recommendations for how remaining gaps could be filled.

Il existe actuellement peu ou pas d’informations sur les niveaux de compétences fondamentales et transférables des personnes handicapées (PH). Une equipe de recherche a fait une analyse documentaire et une entrevue avec des informateurs clés pour identifier et combler les lacunes dans les connaissances, ainsi que pour aider à guider l’élaboration de recommandations sur la façon dont les lacunes restantes pourraient être comblées.

Looking Across Time: The Institute for Work & Health's 2021/22 Annual report

When the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association went looking for a tool to measure the OHS performance of its members firms, it turned to the Institute's easy-to-use, eight-item safety culture measure—the IWH-OPM.

This summary of an IWH research project outlines challenges in return to work within police services related to three key themes: accommodation, communication and trust-building, all within the culture and context of policing.

What daily physical activity pattern is best for your heart health? To answer this question, researchers at the Institute for Work & Health analyzed activity tracker data in a nationally representative sample of 8,909 workers and their 10-year risk of heart disease. This infographic compares how Canadian workers get their exercise—and the implications for their cardiovascular health.

Young adults with rheumatic disease who reported high work activity limitations were also more likely to report persistent high levels of pain, fatigue and active rheumatic disease symptoms. Those who experienced job insecurity were more likely to report persistent pain and active disease symptoms. That's according to an IWH follow-up study conducted over 27 months.

IWH’s Research Impact Model, developed in 2010 to guide the Institute's thinking about its impact, has resonated with other work-health research organizations and informed how they assess the impact of their work.

Work-related training delivered through synchronous or real-time online formats can be just as effective as face-to-face training in building workers’ knowledge or skills. This finding is based on a relatively sparse body of research looking at training aimed at adult learners at the undergraduate level or higher.

Communication is central to disability management—especially in large and complex organizations where multiple parties are involved in the return-to-work process and inconsistent practices can add to communication challenges. Workplace stakeholders in large and complex organizations use key strategies to effectively communicate about RTW. They include communicating messages of support, correctly timing RTW communication, carefully wording messages, framing messages and tailoring messages for individual workers.

Personal support workers (PSWs) faced a range of challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including concerns of contracting or transmitting the virus, reduced work hours and income, loss of childcare services and lack of paid sick leave. While the pandemic highlighted the importance of the PSW workforce to the Canadian health-care system, pre-existing poor working conditions—in particular, insecure jobs with few benefits—exacerbated COVID-19-related work experiences.

When the WSIB decided to revisit the methods behind the Health and Safety Index, two IWH researchers provided advice on areas where the index could be improved. In October 2021, the HSI was revised, incorporating many of the suggestions provided by IWH.

Following a 2017 study to estimate occupational health and safety (OHS) expenditures by employers with 20 or more employees in Ontario, Canada, an Institute for Work & Health (IWH) team has set out to estimate the financial return on those OHS expenditures. This Issue Briefing shares findings from that follow-up study.