Tools and guides

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.

Published: March 2024

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.

Published: March 2023

This resource, developed with partners in Newfoundland and Labrador, provides research and practice evidence on musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) prevention practices and programs for workplaces to consider and implement. The resource describes the evidence in three main sections: awareness, training, and hazard identification and solutions.

Published: February 2021

This interactive tool is designed for youth and young adults with rheumatic health conditions such as juvenile arthritis or lupus as they begin their working lives. It is designed to help them identify and address the unique challenges they may face when looking for work, already working or unable to work due to their health condition.

Published: November 2020

This toolkit contains everything needed to deliver instructional sessions to newcomers in Ontario on their occupational health and safety (OHS) and workers' compensation rights and responsibilities.

Published: December 2019

This resource synthesizes the research evidence on the practical solutions that workplaces can implement (in conjunction with workers' compensation, insurance and health-care authorities) to support the return to work of employees with musculoskeletal disorders or mental health conditions.

Published: May 2019

This guide, based on a research collaboration led by the Institute for Work & Health, provides an overview of the process involved in modifying the curriculum of an existing occupational health and safety (OHS) training program in order to address gaps in essential skills among worker trainees.

Published: April 2018

This evidence-based guide is designed for anyone in the workplace who supports workers with depression as they cope with their symptoms while working, or when they are returning to work following an episode of depression.

Published: March 2018

This handbook, the product of a research collaboration between the Institute for Work & Health and Memorial University’s SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research, can be used by occupational health, safety and disability prevention stakeholders seeking to improve policy and/or practice by contextualizing the results of a research synthesis (e.g. a systematic review) to their particular situation (e.g. particular jurisdiction, sector or workplace).

Published: March 2017

This guide provides simple explanations of over 35 common research terms used in the health and social sciences to help users of research better understand what scientists mean when they report their findings.

Published: January 2017

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.

Published: January 2016

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. 

Published: January 2016

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. 

Published: January 2015

Each of four case studies tells the story of an Ontario organization that achieved firm-level, sustained improvement in health and safety performance. Each illustrates the factors critical to making large improvement in health and safety, based upon an evidence-based model of breakthrough change developed through Institute for Work & Health research.

Published: January 2014

This booklet contains evidence-based information, drawn from the research literature before 2010, on how people can live with short-term (acute) low-back pain. It contains reassuring advice about the course of typical back pain, as well as information on choosing the right treatment, what works and what doesn’t, and some common myths about back pain.

Published: January 2010

This software tool is designed for workplace OHS professionals and consultants to help them calculate the costs and benefits of workplace health and safety initiatives, as well as the costs of health and safety incidents. Economics training is not needed to use this tool because economic principles have been built into it.

Published: January 2010

This evidence-based guide addresses the warning signs (red flags) of a potentially complicated recovery and return to work, as well as the helpful practices (green lights) that can help ensure the recovery and return go smoothly.

Published: January 2009

This booklet outlines six key steps that have been shown in the research to contribute to the success of a participatory ergonomics program, based on a systematic review by IWH researchers.

Published: January 2009

This tool, based on IWH's Seven "Principles" for Successful Return to Work, offers guidance to occupational therapists on how to collaborate with workplace parties in the development of successful return-to-work programs.

Published: January 2008

This popular guide outlines seven principles that the research shows are associated with workplace practices that can help ensure the successful return of a worker after injury or illness.

Published: January 2007

This practical guide is designed to help with knowledge transfer planning, based on a model that promotes building and nurturing relationships between those who produce research and those who use it. The short guide, written by experts and pioneers in KTE, includes advice and worksheets on creating messages, understanding audiences, transferring knowledge, and defining impacts.

Published: January 2006

This step-by-step facilitator's guide is designed to help with the implementation of a successful participatory ergonomics program as part of an organization’s health and safety program.

Published: January 2003

This comprehensive guide lays out the methods behind rigorous effectiveness evaluations of workplace safety interventions—from determining the appropriate design and deciding who should be in your study sample, to measuring outcomes and going beyond quantitative methods. 

Published: January 2001

This 30-item, self-report questionnaire, and the shorter 11-item QuickDASH, measure physical function and symptoms in people with musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limb, allowing clinicians and researchers to monitor changes in symptoms and function over time. 

Published: January 1996