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
![Two ambulance parked at the emergency entrance of a hospital in the night](/sites/iwh/files/styles/bootstrap_6_col_wide/public/iwh/images/hospital_emergency_ambulance.jpg?h=9f5479df&itok=LqVzYblS)
At Work article
Rates of work injuries have declined in Ontario, except the most severe
From 2004 to 2017, rates of work-related injuries requiring an emergency department visit declined in Ontario. But that overall downward trend was driven by injuries that were mild or moderate in severity. Rates of very severe injuries did not fall among men and even increased among women.
Published: July 12, 2024
![A New Zealand construction worker holding papers looking off-camera with a city skyline behind](/sites/iwh/files/styles/bootstrap_6_col_wide/public/iwh/images/Construction_New_Zealand.jpg?h=9f5479df&itok=Sw9c8k-r)
Impact case study
Construction safety org adapts IWH research messages for tradesworker audience
A key program from Construction Health and Safety New Zealand—developed using IWH research—takes a participatory ergonomics approach to better prevent and manage musculoskeletal injuries among construction workers.
Published: February 28, 2024
Journal article
Journal article
The development of a conceptual model and self-reported measure of occupational health and safety vulnerability
Published: Accident Analysis and Prevention, June 2015
![A hospital emergency sign](/sites/iwh/files/styles/bootstrap_4_col_widescreen/public/iwh/images/hospital_emergency_sign2.jpg?h=a79702b5&itok=qUfAy_kr)
Issue Briefing
Divergent trends in work-related and non-work-related injury in Ontario
An IWH study found strongly diverging trends in the annual incidence of occupational injury and non-occupational injury among working-age adults in Ontario from 2004 to 2011. This Issue Briefing highlights opportunities to improve the monitoring of injury across Canada.
Published: June 2015
![Pencil with questionnaire](/sites/iwh/files/styles/bootstrap_4_col_widescreen/public/iwh/images/pencil_questionnaire_agree_disagree.jpg?h=e26f96c9&itok=G_kLNhOO)
At Work article
IWH research on vulnerable workers leads to tool for measuring risk factors
29-item survey gauges vulnerability via workplace hazards, policies, procedures and worker awareness.
Published: April 2015
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Assessing the validity of the IWH-OPM: Workplace case studies
Workplaces and jurisdictions are looking for valid, reliable and practical indicators of occupational health and safety (OHS) performance. In light of this, OHS professionals from prevention system partners in Ontario, in collaboration with the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), developed a leading indicator known as the IWH Organizational Performance Metric (IWH-OPM). Prior testing of the eight-item IWH-OPM suggests it has acceptable internal consistency and structural validity, and is also predictive of future OHS performance (as measured by claims rates). In this plenary, Dr. Basak Yanar, a researcher and lecturer in organizational behaviour at the University of Windsor, reports on a further qualitative study of the IWH-OPM that contributes to the ongoing analysis of its measurement properties. The construct validity of the IWH-OPM was examined through case studies in five organizations, comparing the item and scale scores with observational and interview data on OHS performance. Results indicate good construct validity; that is, organizations that scored high on the scale also had the best OHS practices compared to those that scored lower on the scale.
Published: April 2015
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Developing a measure of OHS vulnerability
The term "vulnerability" is used increasingly in occupational health and safety (OHS) in Ontario. Although certain groups in the labour market (e.g. younger workers, temporary workers or immigrants) are often labelled as “vulnerable workers,” there is very little discussion about what the broader workplace and occupational factors are that lead to increased risk of injury among these groups, and whether these risk factors are similar across the groups. In this plenary, Dr. Peter Smith, a scientist at the Institute for Work & Health, provides an overview of the conceptual framework of OHS vulnerability. He also shares preliminary findings from a survey capturing different dimensions of OHS vulnerability across a sample of workers in Ontario and British Columbia.
Published: January 2015
Project
Project
Evaluating the impact of mandatory awareness training on occupational health and safety vulnerability in Ontario
In 2014, Ontario legislated mandatory health and safety awareness training for all workers and supervisors. How effective was this training in its early days in reducing vulnerability to risk of work injury? IWH researchers answered this question.
Status: Completed 2018
Project
Project
Employer investments in occupational health and safety: establishing benchmarks for Ontario
How much are Ontario employers investing in health and safety in their workplaces. An IWH research team went right to the source, surveying Ontario employers about their firm-level spending on five dimensions of health and safety.
Status: Completed 2017
![Co-workers strategize at table with sticky notes](/sites/iwh/files/styles/bootstrap_4_col_widescreen/public/iwh/images/meeting_table_sticky_notes_documents.jpg?h=4635cd3e&itok=uUj-zSCL)
Impact case study
Leading indicators and benchmarking key to growing success for property management company
Brookfield Johnson Controls turns to the IWH-OPM after deciding to shift focus away from lagging indicators.
Published: December 2014
![A mature man doing exercises with hand weights with help from a physiotherapist](/sites/iwh/files/styles/bootstrap_4_col_widescreen/public/physio_man_weights.jpg?h=6d12ec4c&itok=K4jv5-tD)
At Work article
Preventing upper extremity MSDs: What the latest research says
IWH systematic review recommends workplace-based resistance training to help prevent and manage upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders
Published: November 2014
![Two colleagues at an industrial plant](/sites/iwh/files/styles/bootstrap_4_col_widescreen/public/colleagues_safety_helmet_0.jpg?h=94742416&itok=Rw0Ltx8C)
At Work article
Success stories offer new guidance to organizations on path of OHS change
Breakthrough change model finds external influence, new OHS knowledge, health and safety champion among catalysts for sustained change
Published: November 2014