Construction sector

The work of rigging and hoisting loads comes with significant hazard. Adding to the injury prevention challenge is the fact that many people doing this work have literacy and numeracy skills gaps. A recent IWH study tried out a novel approach to address these learning needs.

Published: April 2018

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

One of the things IWH's Dr. Benjamin Amick does when he visits a work site is to do what he's not supposed to do. "I want the worker to tell me how much of an idiot I am... If (that) happens then I'm on a site that I know has a strong safety culture to begin with," he explains in a panel on safety culture. Angela Gismondi reports.

Published: Daily Commercial News, March 2018

“Working at heights is one of the most dangerous types of work in the construction sector,” says Dr. Cameron Mustard, president and senior scientist, Institute for Work & Health, in an article on Ontario's plans to review working-at-heights training standards. “By working with stakeholders to evaluate the WAH standards, we will help ensure construction workers are protected on the job and will return home safely at the end of each workday.”

Published: Equipment Journal, December 2017

Dr. Linda Goldenhar, an expert in the safety culture and climate of construction workplaces, was in Toronto recently to discuss the research that led her team to develop a workbook to help strengthen jobsite safety and an online tool that assesses a workplace’s safety climate maturity, reports Angela Gismondi on IWH's Nachemson lecture.

Published: Daily Commercial News, December 2017

In this lecture Dr. Goldenhar talks about the research that led her team to develop, first, a workbook to help strengthen jobsite safety climate by improving performance in eight areas identified as leading indicators of health and safety outcomes and, more recently an online tool that assesses a workplace’s safety climate maturity. Dr. Goldenhar also shares preliminary evaluation findings of a program that she and her team developed to improve jobsite supervisory leadership—one of the eight safety climate leading indicators identified as critical by construction stakeholders.

Published: November 2017

The construction sector is in the top five of 17 sectors in terms of spending per worker per year on preventing work-related injury and illness, says the president and senior scientist at the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) who is conducting a pilot study on the matter

Published: Daily Commercial News, May 2017

A study conducted by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) shows work-related injuries in Ontario declined by 30 per cent from 2004 to 2011, reaffirming the efforts made by employers to make the workplace safe, states Patrick McManus, chair of the Ontario Construction Employers Coalition (CEC).

Published: Daily Commercial News, April 2017

An IWH study is estimating future incidences cancers among construction workers in Ontario as a result of workplace exposures, and estimating the costs and benefits of intervention programs to reduce these exposures.

Status: Completed 2021

IWH researchers are examining the effectiveness of Ontario’s mandatory working-at-heights training standard and what is being learned about its implementation in construction workplaces.

Status: Completed