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
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 surveyed firms across Ontario and British Columbia to find out.
Published: October 8, 2025
Impact case study
Saskatchewan’s construction safety group uses IWH tool to improve safety culture
This case study details how the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association (SCSA) members have been analyzing IWH-OPM scores to adjust their safety practices and how SCSA has been using the data to tailor their outreach.
Published: February 10, 2025
Project
Project
Central nervous system agents and the risk of workplace injury and death: a systematic review
IWH is leading a systematic review to determine the level and quality of research evidence on the association between workers’ use of agents that act on the central nervous system (e.g. opioids, cannabis) and the risk of workplace injury, reinjury, near misses and death, including outcomes affecting co-workers and others in the immediate workplace.
Status: Completed 2019
Tools and guides
IWH Organizational Performance Metric
This evidence-based, eight-item questionnaire helps organizations assess and improve their health and safety performance by indicating where improvements might be made to health and safety policies and practices in order to prevent injuries or illnesses from occurring.
Published: January 2016
Project
Project
Implementation of workplace violence legislation in Ontario hospitals
IWH researchers sought to find out what helps and what hinders the successful implementation of legislated workplace violence prevention measures in Ontario’s acute-care hospitals.
Status: Completed 2017
Project
Project
Determinants of health and safety in unionized and non-unionized firms in Ontario’s construction sector
According to previous findings from IWH, unionized construction firms have fewer lost-time, critical and musculoskeletal workers’ compensation claims than non-unionized ones. Do differing workplace policies and practices in unionized firms account for this. An IWH team sought to answer the question.
Status: Completed 2017
Impact case study
Ontario prevention system shifts risk-of-injury emphasis from “young workers” to “new workers”
New workers are in the spotlight after IWH research show workers are at much greater risk of injury in the first month of the job.
Published: December 2015
Impact case study
IWH leading indicator tool wins over advocates across Canada
The eight-item IWH-OPM is used in several provinces to strengthen safety performance in workplaces.
Published: December 2015
At Work article
IWH study in construction sector suggests unionized firms are safer
First industry-wide study in Ontario by Institute for Work & Health finds unionized construction workers report more claims overall but fewer claims that result in time off work.
Published: November 2015
At Work article
Distinct types of OHS vulnerability seen in young, temporary, small business employees
A tool developed by IWH measures three types of vulnerability to workplace health and safety risk.
Published: November 2015
Project report
Project report
Economic burden of lung cancer and mesothelioma in Canada due to occupational asbestos exposure (2015)
This November 2015 presentation provides an early look at the results of an economic burden study on the costs to Canadian society of new cases of lung cancers and mesothelioma attributable to occupational asbestos exposures in a particular year.
Published: November 2015
IWH in the media
Hand in hand
The debate on the role of unions in influencing workplace safety is as old as unions are. Organized labour, by serving as employee advocates, may have a positive influence on job safety after all, according to a recent Institute for Work & Health (IWH) study.
Published: OHS Canada, November 2015