OHS enforcement and regulation
The regulator’s role in setting and enforcing the adoption of basic standards is fundamentally important to ensuring the health, safety and fair treatment of workers and the productivity of workplaces. The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) conducts a wide range of research to help labour ministries, workers' compensation boards and other regulatory bodies (and those affected by them) understand where their limited time and money will be most effectively allocated to achieve fewer work-related injuries and illnesses.
Featured
IWH Speaker Series
Estimating the economic burden of work injuries and illnesses in the European Union
Published: November 12, 2019
Impact case study
Ontario Mining Association endorses safety climate and assessment audit tool
A tool designed to measure "two sides of the coin"—OHS systems and culture—developed by Workplace Safety North with IWH expertise, has been endorsed by Ontario's mining association, and now is in demand well beyond the province and the sector.
Published: January 2019
Project
Project
Costs of work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths in the European Union
Status: Completed 2019
At Work article
Therapy can help manage depression, but in Manitoba, access to therapists is a concern
Therapy can help manage depression, according to a new systematic review update. How easy is this recommendation to implement in a province like Manitoba?
Published: August 2017
Project report
Project report
Managing depression in the workplace: a systematic review contextualized for Manitoba
This report provides a synthesis of the relevant research-based evidence on managing depression for the adult working population of Manitoba. The synthesis is based on an international search of the literature, and the findings were then contexualized for Manitoba based on an approach developed by the Institute for Work & Health and Memorial University's SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research.
Published: March 2017
Tools and guides
Evidence in context for occupational health and safety: operational handbook
This handbook, the product of a research collaboration between the Institute for Work & Health and Memorial University’s SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research, can be used by occupational health, safety and disability prevention stakeholders seeking to improve policy and/or practice by contextualizing the results of a research synthesis (e.g. a systematic review) to their particular situation (e.g. particular jurisdiction, sector or workplace).
Published: March 2017
Project report
Project report
Auditing the internal responsibility system in Ontario's mining industry
IWH, in collaboration with Workplace Safety North, piloted a workplace questionnaire to measure perceptions of practices related to the internal responsibility system in Ontario's mining sector. This February 2017 presentation provides an overview of the development of the instrument, called the Internal Responsibility System Climate Assessment and Audit Tool (IRS CAAT), and the psychometric analysis of that instrument at four mining operations.
Published: February 2017
Project
Project
Evaluating an internal responsibility system audit tool for Ontario’s mining sector
IWH researchers tested the reliability and validity of the Internal Responsibility System Climate Assessment and Audit Tool (IRS CAAT), which embodies internal responsibility best practices for Ontario’s underground mines.
Status: Completed 2017
IWH in the media
New tool measures workplace safety systems and culture
How safe do you really feel in your workplace? What’s your day-to-day experience when it comes to health and safety? Enter the CAAT – or Climate Audit and Assessment Tool – a new way to measure workplace health and safety systems and culture. This article on the tool mentions the Institute for Work & Health's involvement in the project.
Published: Workplace Safety North, September 2016
At Work article
Study finds COR employers have lower rates of serious injuries than those not in program
An IWH researcher finds a voluntary audit program is effective in identifying safer employers.
Published: April 2016
Impact case study
OSHA says IWH review confirms effectiveness of OHS enforcement
Why the U.S. federal agency OSHA cites IWH research to bolster changes in its approach to enforcement.
Published: December 2015