Illness/injury prevention

To what extent did workplace exposures account for the transmission of the COVID-19 virus during the first two years of the pandemic? A new study by IWH combined data sources to estimate work-related infection rates, using a method that took into account major shifts in where people worked. It found the role of work exposure changed from wave to wave, in a dynamic pattern not in keeping with the number of cases in the general population.

Published: February 2024

Published: Occupational & Environmental Medicine, February 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the importance of having accurate data on workplace exposure to infectious diseases. Efforts to estimate infection rates of COVID-19 during the public health emergency were hampered by inadequate information on key factors, such as whether an infected worker had worked from home or interacted with the public. In this presentation, Dr. Peter Smith shares results from a study that examined the risk of work-related COVID-19 infections. He discusses methods used by the team to combine data sources to take into account changes in labour market participation—including working from home—during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Published: January 2024

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

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

Published: November 2023

Extreme weather caused by climate change is changing the jobs of health care workers, outdoor labourers, and even flight attendants, writes Gabriela Calugay-Casuga. Research from IWH about the union safety effect is cited.

Published: Rabble.ca, August 2023

A study by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) has shed light on the association between cannabis use and work injury risk. As reported by Ada Tabanao, by distinguishing between on-the-job cannabis consumption and off-duty use, researchers found a significant difference in injury risks.

Published: Benefits and Pensions Monitor, August 2023