Construction sector

IWH research that specifically involves construction workplaces, workers, unions, employers and/or associations, as well as research on programs that specifically target the construction sector, is collected together here. Not included is IWH research that cuts across all or many sectors, even though it may be relevant to the construction sector. For this reason, visitors are encouraged to explore beyond this page to find equally important information on the prevention of work injury and disability in construction.

Featured

A residential home in mid-build is surrounded by scaffolding
At Work article

Safer work practices, lower injury rates maintained two years after Ontario’s working-at-heights training came into effect: study

In 2015, the Ontario government implemented a working-at-heights (WAH) training standard to ramp up fall prevention efforts. An IWH study team has now gathered two additional years of data on the effectiveness of this training requirement—both on work practices and injury rates.
Published: November 3, 2023
Equipment Journal logo
IWH in the media

Ontario plans to review Working at Heights training

“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
Daily Commercial News logo
IWH in the media

Expert shares tools to improve site safety culture, climate

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
Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture
Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture

High-hazard industries: Addressing safety culture, climate and leadership to improve outcomes

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
Daily Commercial News logo
IWH in the media

Construction among highest spending sectors to prevent work-related injuries

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
Daily Commercial News logo
IWH in the media

Work injuries have dipped: IWH report

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
Project
Project

Addressing literacy and numeracy gaps among workers in an OHS training program: a pilot study

Can we improve occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes by embedding literacy and numeracy into OHS training? IWH researchers aimed to find out, by assessing a hoisting and rigging program that embeds these essential skills into the training.
Status: Completed 2017
Project
Project

Identifying relevant OHS leading indicators in Manitoba's construction sector

IWH is collaborating with the Construction Safety Association of Manitoba (CSAM) to identify relevant leading indicators of injury and illness in the province’s construction sector, and to encourage their use through tools that creates a conversation about best practices in the sector.
Status: Completed 2019
Project
Project

Evaluating prevention strategies to reduce the risk of work-related cancers in Ontario’s construction sector

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
Project
Project

Evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of Ontario’s working-at-heights training standard

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: Ongoing
A black and white view of construction scaffolding on a building
At Work article

Eight safety leading indicators for the construction worksite

What do flex and stretch programs at construction worksites have to do with safety climate and safety culture? A PREMUS keynote speaker thinks she has the answer.
Published: August 2016