Illness/injury prevention

Published: Systematic Reviews, July 2025

A Toronto Star investigation has found that critical workplace injuries spike on the hottest days of the year. The provincial government knows that heat is a growing and potentially lethal threat to workers, but new protections it once proposed have never materialized, writes climate change reporter Kate Allen, with data analysis provided by IWH's Dr. Peter Smith.

Published: The Toronto Star, June 2025

In what was described as a strategic, provincewide collaboration, the WSIB has partnered with Workplace Safety North (WSN) and the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) to lead a proactive campaign aimed at enhancing hygiene monitoring practices and reducing exposure to harmful workplace hazards. The initiative, spearheaded by WSN, is to focus on high-risk sectors such as mining and forestry, where workers continue to face some of the highest rates of occupational illness fatalities in Ontario. WSN has developed a suite of specialized training materials and will work directly with employers and workers through hands-on coaching and real-time use of hygiene monitoring equipment. The IWH will support the initiative by applying its expertise in health and safety research to assess the effectiveness of the training programs and their impact on improving worker safety.

Published: Sudbury.com, May 2025

On Day 1 of the Mining Health and Safety Conference in Sudbury, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board announced $6.78 million to protect workers in Ontario’s natural resources sectors, to be conducted by Workplace Safety North and the Institute for Work and Health, Lyndsay Aelick reports.

Published: CTV News, April 2025

In a column that's part of the Globe and Mail Careers’ Leadership Lab series, Siemens Canada president and CEO Faisal Kazi makes the case to strive for zero safety incidents. He cites IWH research showing each work injury on average costs manufacturing employers $39,000, as well as IWH findings that the return on safety investment in manufacturing is 24 per cent, largely from productivity gains and reduction of workplace injury costs.

Published: The Globe and Mail, April 2025

Findings from the Institute's study on claim suppression were among those cited in this column highlighting the under-reporting or under-recognition of work-related injuries and fatalities. Without a more accurate picture of work-related suffering, much needed workplace and government interventions will be stalled or fail to materialize altogether, the column states.

Published: Workers Health & Safety Centre, April 2025

According to a study by the Institute for Work and Health (IWH), small businesses participating in health and safety incentive programs, such as the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Health & Safety Excellence Program (HSEp), are better able to make positive health and safety changes in their workplace, despite facing challenges like limited time and resources. Participants in these programs achieve significant benefits, such as increasing health and safety awareness and effective implementation of occupational health and safety (OHS) policies. However, small businesses often require additional support due to resource constraints and limited OHS knowledge.

Published: Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, March 2025

Competent and supportive supervisors can help reduce injuries experienced by workers, especially when supervisors are properly trained, states article that cites research by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH). It found that workers most likely to suffer an injury were those who reported that their supervisors were unaware of hazards and/or didn’t provide reasonable protection.

Published: Workers Health & Safety Centre, March 2025

Since 2021, the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association (SCSA) has been surveying its members twice per year on their organizations’ safety practices and culture using IWH’s Organizational Performance Metric (OPM). A new case study details how SCSA members have been analyzing OPM scores to adjust their safety practices and how SCSA has been using the data to tailor their outreach.

Published: February 2025

On October 17, 2018, the non-medical use of cannabis was legalized in Canada. To examine the implications of this change for workplaces, the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) embarked on two research projects. The studies explored changes in cannabis consumption habits among workers; changes in their perceptions about such consumption; associations between cannabis consumption and occupational injury risks; as well as the use of cannabis to treat symptoms in the aftermath of a work-related injury/illness. This Issue Briefing provides an overview of findings from these two studies and the potential implications of this research for employers and policy-makers.

Published: December 2024