Construction sector

A follow-up study looking at the impact of Ontario’s mandated working at heights training confirms standardized training results in safer work.

Published: Workers Health & Safety Centre, January 2023

In 2015, the province of Ontario implemented a working-at-heights (WAH) training standard requiring most construction workers to take a specific day-long training in fall prevention. A 2019 study conducted by the Institute for Work & Health found the training had positive impact on construction workers' safety knowledge, work practices and injury rates. In this presentation, Dr. Lynda Robson shares new findings on the longer-term impact of the training, drawing on two additional years of follow-up data.

Published: December 2022

The IWH-OPM is an eight-item safety culture measure that has been used across Canada and beyond to help workplaces measure OHS performance. Among its most recent applications is its use by the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association, which is rolling it out, in several waves, to member firms.

Published: November 2022

Published: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, April 2022

Testimony from a senior Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MOL) policy manager on day three of Ontario’s swing stage inquest Feb. 2 revealed the ministry may be recommending changes to Working at Heights (WAH) training as soon as April. Don Wall reports.

Published: Daily Commercial News, February 2022

A testimony from William Roy, a senior Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MOL) policy manager, revealed potential changes to working at heights (WAH) training which could be implemented as soon as April.
The revelation came on day three on Ontario’s swing stage inquest into the 2009 scaffolding collapse at an Etobicoke high rise, in which four people died. Roy's testimony included suggestions for training reforms, contained in a Feb. 2019 report conducted by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and commissioned by the Ministry.

Published: Canadian Occupational Safety , February 2022

Published: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, February 2022

Published: Occupational & Environmental Medicine, January 2022

Published: Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, November 2021

Cases of work-related non-melanoma skin cancer among construction workers in Ontario are on track to double by 2060. However, according to new research done by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), if protective equipment and clothing such as long-sleeve shirts, pants and neck coverings are worn by construction workers, up to 6,034 cases of such cancers could be averted over the next three decades. That would result in $38 million in costs (in 2017 Canadian dollars) being saved over a 30-year period, Grant Cameron reports.

Published: Daily Commercial News, July 2021