1. Research priorities

Longstanding work and health issues

Many longstanding issues related to work injuries and their consequences continue to negatively affect the lives and health of workers. For example, musculoskeletal injuries remain the leading cause of disability and discomfort among Canadian workers. Rates of workers’ compensation claims for traumatic fatalities have remained constant for the past decade. Persons with disabilities continue to be employed at lower rates, or in poorer work conditions, than those who do not live with a disability. Our research aims to provide new knowledge to help regulators and workplaces address persistent occupational health and safety (OHS) risks, workers’ compensation challenges and barriers to labour market inclusion.

Latest findings

Close-up of two pairs of hands, belong to a counsellor and a patient sitting on a couch

Access to mental health treatment among workers with physical injuries

A substantial proportion of workers with compensation claims for a work-related musculoskeletal injury also experience a serious mental condition. However, a minority of these workers receive treatment for their mental health conditions.
A tangled telephone cord

Examining communication and collaboration barriers among health and case management professionals

Different communication styles, professional priorities and philosophical perspectives on return to work can hamper collaboration and communication between health-care providers and case managers—and among health practitioners of different disciplines.
blurry silhouettes of two colleagues talking

Poorer post-injury experiences lead to worse RTW outcomes for psychological claimants

Injured workers on leave due to psychological injuries report poorer experiences and interactions throughout the return-to-work process. According to an IWH study, these experiences are interconnected, leading to longer time off from work.

Featured impact case study

Following reports by IWH and others, B.C. amends the law to strengthen protections against claim suppression

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.

A worker drives a forklift in a lumber mill

Featured tool

Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT)

A new tool helps workers with episodic health conditions think about—and ask for—the supports they need at work.

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Ongoing projects

Understanding how new businesses start managing OHS: laying the groundwork for future interventions

About 100,000 new businesses with one or more employees are created each year in Canada. Almost all start out as small businesses, which have been shown to carry high risks of injuries and fatalities. This study sets out to understand how occupational health and safety management is initiated by new businesses. Its aim is to fill in a research gap and help the prevention system in Ontario reach and support new businesses early in their lifecycle.

Implementation of a comprehensive accommodation and reintegration program in a police service

This study sets out to evaluate the implementation of an accommodation and reintegration program at a major urban police service. The goal is to improve program access and participation and, ultimately, the well-being of police officers.

Incentives-based approaches to support stay at work/return to work: an environmental scan

This project will identify and examine the incentives for adults with disabilities that promote staying at or returning to work.

Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA): Transition to work and career development

This project will identify and synthesize innovative school-to-work transition programs, practices and interventions for persons with disabilities that emphasize access to high-quality jobs and career success.

Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA): Evidence synthesis

As part of the IDEA initiative, IWH is leading an evidence synthesis component to identify needs/challenges, knowledge gaps and existing evidence-informed tools and promising practices related to IDEA's objectives.

Champions as social agents of change: what can we learn from worker well-being initiatives?

This project explores the role of champions in improving worker participation in workplace well-being programs.

Trends in the severity of work-related injury in Ontario

IWH is developing a method to classify the severity of work-related injuries presenting to hospital emergency departments.

Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA): A social innovation lab to increase demand-side capacity to employ persons with disabilities in Canada

This large, national project includes many research team members, collaborators and partners—all taking an innovative approach to increasing the sustainable employment of people with disabilities in Canada by building disability confidence and accommodation capacity among employers

Ontario Life After Work Injury Study: Understanding the long-term recovery and labour market outcomes of injured workers in the shadow of COVID-19

Building on IWH's original Ontario Life After Work Injury Study (OLAWIS), IWH is looking in particular at the long-term outcomes of people who were recovering and returning to work during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Building disability confidence in Canada’s financial sector

An IWH project is bringing together disability-focused organizations to develop a toolkit to build capacity among Canada's financial-sector employers to hire and accommodate persons with disabilities.

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