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

A bearded male worker in an apron handles decorative blue-teal glass discs displayed on a shelf
At Work article

Consultants play key role in OHS implementation at small firms

An IWH study of small businesses that took part in Ontario's Health and Safety Excellence Program highlights the key factors that contribute their success in the program.
Published: November 8, 2024
A warehouse worker looks at a tablet among stacks of boxes
At Work article

Higher risk of work injuries found among those in precarious jobs: IWH study

Workers in jobs likely to be precarious are more likely to experience a work-related injury or illness in Ontario, including COVID-19. That’s according to a pair of studies that examined whether employment conditions are linked to the rate of work injuries.
Published: September 12, 2024
Pencil with questionnaire
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
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
Two colleagues at an industrial plant
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
A mature man doing exercises with hand weights with help from a physiotherapist
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
A row of orange safety cones
At Work article

Ontario firm uses OLIP to track health and safety in suppliers

Real estate services company shares story of how it puts leading indicators to use
Published: August 2014
Overhead image of a busy, open-concept office
At Work article

IWH eight-item questionnaire may predict future claims rates

The IWH-OPM, developed as part of the Institute’s leading indicators research, found to predict future claims rates in a sample of Ontario firms
Published: August 2014