Health and safety training

Published: American Journal of Public Health, January 2024

An IWH study on the effectiveness of Ontario's mandatory training was helpful to the labour ministry in several ways—including in reinforcing the value of program evaluations.

Published: November 2023

Among recent organized efforts to make jobsites safer, working-at-heights training has been effective, reports an Institute for Work & Health (IWH) study. As Adam Freill reports, in the three-year period after Ontario made working-at-heights training in the construction sector standardized and mandatory, study authors explain that the rate of fall-from-height injuries leading to time off work fell by 19 per cent.

Published: On-Site Magazine, November 2023

Published: November 2023

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 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the ongoing trend toward online learning in many spheres of life, including occupational health and safety (OHS) training. However, it's not clear whether online delivery methods are as effective as in-person methods. To help address the research gap, a study set out to compare face-to-face learning, online instructor-led synchronous distance learning and online self-paced e-learning training delivery methods. It centers on a provincially regulated standardized OHS training. The main research question asks whether the three training delivery methods differ in the post-training knowledge gain by learners. Secondary research questions are asked about other factors affecting knowledge achievement, other training outcomes, and learner suggestions for improving the training.

Published: September 2023

How does in-person training compare with online training when it comes to knowledge gained and learner engagement? Does the effectiveness of the different training methods vary for different types of workers? In this presentation, Dr. Lynda Robson shares findings from a recent study of Ontario workers who took a Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) certification course. She compares the effects of three methods of training—face-to-face training, instructor-led distance training and self-paced e-learning. She also examines the effects of worker characteristics, such as level of formal education and English as a first language, on training outcomes.

Published: September 2023

A reprint of this IWH At Work article was included the February 2023 issue of the OCA's Construction Comment magazine.

Published: Construction Comment: Ottawa Construction Association, February 2023

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