Document directory

Health-care providers play an important role in the return to work of injured workers, yet research suggests they sometimes struggle with this responsibility. This executive summary provides an overview of the findings of a study on health-care providers' experiences in return to work and in working with workers' compensation systems.

Health-care providers play an important role in the return to work of injured workers, yet research suggests they sometimes struggle with this responsibility. This report shares the findings of a study on health-care providers' experiences in return to work and in working with workers' compensation systems. It also suggests practices and policies that may help clarify the role of health-care providers and make workers’ compensation systems easier to navigate for all stakeholders.

Four factors that predict how long injured workers will remain off work are incorporated into new case management model at Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

Ten years after it took part in a participatory ergonomics study, Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro's change team was still going strong.

Despite a strong OHS record, construction and facilities management company sees benefit of learning more through use of IWH's OHS Vulnerability Measure.

The IWH Organizational Performance Metric (IWH-OPM) helps WorksafeBC act on a review recommendation to assess safety culture in the province's workplaces.

This Issue Briefing provides highlights of IWH's body of evidence on "vulnerable" workers, tracking how our research has evolved from vulnerability being associated with those who are new to a job to those who are exposed to hazards with inadequate awareness, protective policies and/or empowerment.

Upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) include painful conditions and injuries of the muscles, tendons, joints and nerves that affect the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands. This update of a previous systematic review sets out to find occupational health and safety (OHS) interventions that effectively prevent and manage upper extremity MSDs.

A new way of thinking about "vulnerable workers" makes inroads with Ontario's Ministry of Labour and its partners.

Twenty Five Years of Making a Difference: The Institute for Work & Health's 2015 Annual Report

This June 2016 presentation provides an early look at the results of an economic burden study on the costs to Canadian society of new cases of lung cancers and mesothelioma attributable to occupational asbestos exposures in a particular year.

In 2011, an IWH Issue Briefing summed up research on the adequacy of earnings replacement benefits for injured workers with permanent impairments in Ontario and B.C. This update looks at more recent cohorts, after major changes in Ontario’s workers’ compensation legislation.

Workplaces that jointly manage operations and occupational health and safety (OHS) perform well at both, and no worse than workplaces that focus on only one. There’s no evidence that success in operations requires a trade-off with safety.

This tool assesses the extent to which a worker may be vulnerable to occupational health and safety (OHS) risks at work in four areas: hazard exposure; workplace policies and procedures; worker awareness of hazards and OHS rights and responsibilities; and worker empowerment to participate in injury and illness prevention.

The Ontario Leading Indicators Project (OLIP) was a study conducted by the Institute for Work & Health from 2011-2014 that included a survey made up of five different leading indicator measures. This benchmarking table allows organizations to compare their scores with organizations in Ontario's construction, transportation or electrical & utilities sectors.

Older men and women with work-related injuries remain off work on benefits longer than other workers, and this longer time off work is not explained by the type or severity of their injuries.

This evidence-based, eight-item questionnaire helps organizations assess and improve their health and safety performance by indicating where improvements might be made to health and safety policies and practices in order to prevent injuries or illnesses from occurring. 

Why the U.S. federal agency OSHA cites IWH research to bolster changes in its approach to enforcement.

With regulatory change, Ontario's Ministry of Labour addresses gap in experience rating system after IWH study shows temp workers falling through the cracks.

The eight-item IWH-OPM is used in several provinces to strengthen safety performance in workplaces.

New workers are in the spotlight after IWH research show workers are at much greater risk of injury in the first month of the job.

This November 2015 presentation provides an early look at the results of an economic burden study on the costs to Canadian society of new cases of lung cancers and mesothelioma attributable to occupational asbestos exposures in a particular year.

Promoting a Culture of Occupational Health and Safety: The Institute for Work & Health's 2014 Annual Report

This 2015 presentation shares the results of a survey conducted by IWH to learn about the communication preferences and practices of people working in occupational health and safety, disability management and workers' compensation.

An IWH study found strongly diverging trends in the annual incidence of occupational injury and non-occupational injury among working-age adults in Ontario from 2004 to 2011. This Issue Briefing highlights opportunities to improve the monitoring of injury across Canada.

Researchers and clinicians alike have embraced the 20-year-old measure that assesses function and disability among people with upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders.

QuickDecks are slides summarizing findings from systematic reviews on the treatment of back and neck pain in adults. The slides are based on reviews published in the Cochrane Library, and are compiled by Cochrane Back and Neck, housed at the Institute for Work & Health.

eOfficeErgo is an evidence-based and standard-compliant online training program designed for employees who regularly use computers on the job and would benefit from self-directed online training on the proper way to set up and work at office workstations in order to prevent musculoskeletal disorders and other injuries. 

IWH conference on experience rating and financial incentives helps shape review of claims suppression.

IWH opioid and chronic pain expert, Dr. Andrea Furlan, helps shape new rules in her role on drug advisory committee.

Brookfield Johnson Controls turns to the IWH-OPM after deciding to shift focus away from lagging indicators.

A new case management system for delivering services to injured workers and employers in Ontario leads to improved return-to-work outcomes.

Study by IWH "points us in the right direction," says former WSIB exec.

This Issue Briefing highlights findings from two reports by Prism Economics and Analysis—one for Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and the other for the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba—on the incidence and risk of claim suppression.

The Changing Nature of Work and the Workforce: The Institute for Work & Health's 2013 Annual Report

This report shares the findings from a study on the prevalence of poverty among permanently impaired injured workers across different time periods and receiving benefits from different legislative programs.

How are temporary work agencies organized to manage injury prevention and return to work in light of their non-standard organization? How can we better protect the workplace health of temporary work agency workers? This report shares the results of a study that aimed to answer these questions, focusing on job placements for unskilled and semi-skilled jobs by temporary agencies of all sizes.

Institute expertise tapped to evaluate agency's safety perception tool--and to provide a better alternative.

The toolkit, called Prevention is the Best Medicine, hopes to bridge the knowledge gap among newcomers of OHS and workers' compensation issues.

IWH evaluation of high risk firm program confirms need for a redesign.

To help stakeholders understand why needlestick injuries continue to occur in Ontario hospitals despite a regulation accelerate the adoption of safety-engineered needles, Institute for Work & Health researchers took a close look at the policies and practices of three acute-care hospitals in the province. This report documents their findings.

The Ontario Leading Indicators Project (OLIP) was a study conducted by the Institute for Work & Health from 2011-2014 in partnership with Ontario’s health and safety associations to develop leading indicators of occupational health and safety (OHS) performance. This is the survey used in the study to test leading indicator measures.

The Ontario Leading Indicators Project (OLIP) was a study conducted by the Institute for Work & Health from 2011-2014 that included a survey made up of five different leading indicator measures. This benchmarking table allows organizations to compare their scores with organizations in Ontario's manufacturing subsectors.

The Ontario Leading Indicators Project (OLIP) was a study conducted by the Institute for Work & Health from 2011-2014 in partnership with Ontario’s health and safety associations to develop leading indicators of occupational health and safety performance. The OLIP study included a survey made up of five different leading indicator measures. This benchmarking table allows organizations to compare their scores with the aggregated scores of organizations in Ontario's health-care, education or municipal subsectors who completed the survey from 2011 to 2013.