Illness/injury prevention

IWH has a long history of conducting research to provide practical guidance to employers, workers, OHS professionals and regulators about what works and what doesn’t in injury or illness prevention. This research targets the injury and illness prevention practices of workplaces, as well as the programs developed by governments, health and safety associations and others to support and motivate workplaces to adopt effective practices.

Featured

IWH Speaker Series

New business owners on why and how OHS starts to matter

Published: October 27, 2026
An overhead view of an ambulance driving at night.
Research Highlights

Rises in opioid harms highest in machining, construction, sales

A new study has found that opioid harm rates have increased among injured workers over the last two decades. The study also breaks the trends down by occupation.
Published: October 14, 2026
Journal article
Journal article

Heat exposure and health outcomes in construction workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Published: Environmental Health Insights, March 2026
Journal article
Journal article
Journal article

Early occupational health and safety interventions for small businesses: an environmental scan

Published: American Journal of Industrial Medicine, January 2026
Journal article
Journal article

The combined effect of psychosocial safety climate and OHS vulnerabilities on workplace injury risks

Published: American Journal of Industrial Medicine , January 2026
Project
Project

Construction union effect

Two studies have previously examined the union effect on workplace injuries in the industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) sector of construction, using only data from Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). This study both repeats and extends these studies earlier methods, by using additional sources of data.
Status: Ongoing
Graphic of workers in front of a conveyor belt wearing safety gear, a robot holds a clipboard.
At Work article

Differences in firm-level AI use for health and safety

To what extent are Canadian workplaces using artificial intelligence (AI) to help support workers’ health and safety? And what do these workplaces have in common? An IWH study found that about a quarter of firms surveyed across Ontario and British Columbia were using AI for occupational health and safety (OHS). Those that were more likely to use the technology for OHS were larger organizations and those where workers were more frequently exposed to hazards.
Published: October 2025
Journal article
Journal article

Landscape of artificial intelligence use for occupational health and safety practice in two Canadian provinces

Published: American Journal of Industrial Medicine, September 2025
The Toronto Star logo
IWH in the media

Why heat makes our jobs more dangerous

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