Illness/injury prevention

The legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada came closer to reality on April 13, when the Justin Trudeau government introduced the Cannabis Act, or Bill C-45. While pot users across the country applaud the move, others have raised concerns about the effect that the proposed legislation would have on workplace safety, writes Jeff Cottrill in an article that quotes the Institute for Work & Health's Dr. Andrea Furlan.

Published: OHS Canada, August 2017

Therapy can help manage depression, according to a new systematic review update. How easy is this recommendation to implement in a province like Manitoba?

Published: August 2017

Workers with disabilities are more likely to be exposed to hazards at work than other workers, and are more likely to experience vulnerability due to inadequate measures to mitigate those hazards.

Published: July 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

In this presentation, Dr. Peter Smith shares the results of a study that examined differences in the level of self-reported occupational health and safety (OHS) awareness and empowerment among employed workers in Ontario before and after the introduction of the mandatory OHS training. He also discusses the implications of the results for future province-wide initiatives focusing on the primary prevention of work-related injuries and illnesses.

Published: April 2017

Published: Safety Science, April 2017

This report provides a synthesis of the relevant research-based evidence on managing depression for the adult working population of Manitoba. The synthesis is based on an international search of the literature, and the findings were then contexualized for Manitoba based on an approach developed by the Institute for Work & Health and Memorial University's SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research.

Published: March 2017

This handbook, the product of a research collaboration between the Institute for Work & Health and Memorial University’s SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research, can be used by occupational health, safety and disability prevention stakeholders seeking to improve policy and/or practice by contextualizing the results of a research synthesis (e.g. a systematic review) to their particular situation (e.g. particular jurisdiction, sector or workplace).

Published: March 2017

This report synthesizes the evidence from a systematic review on the effectiveness of workplace-based return-to-work interventions and updates the Institute's 2004 systematic review on the same subject. This update brings in evidence published since 2004, and expands upon the original systematic review by including work absences due not only to musculoskeletal disorders, but also to mental health and pain-related conditions.

Published: February 2017

IWH, in collaboration with Workplace Safety North, piloted a workplace questionnaire to measure perceptions of practices related to the internal responsibility system in Ontario's mining sector. This February 2017 presentation provides an overview of the development of the instrument, called the Internal Responsibility System Climate Assessment and Audit Tool (IRS CAAT), and the psychometric analysis of that instrument at four mining operations.

Published: February 2017