Substance use and work

An estimated one in seven Canadians report using cannabis products to recuperate from work-related physical injuries, according to data published in the journal BMJ Open. Researchers at the Institute for Work & Health surveyed nearly 1,200 Canadians who had received workers’ compensation for either a work-related injury or illness. Fourteen percent of respondents said that they had used cannabis explicitly to recuperate from a workplace injury.

Published: NORML, July 2023

Previously injured workers in sectors including construction, mining and forestry are more likely to end up in the emergency room or to be hospitalized due to opioid-related harm than workers in other sectors in Ontario. Lindsay Kelly reports on findings shared by the Institute for Work & Health and the Occupational Cancer Research Centre at a webinar hosted by EPID at Work, a occupational health research institute at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.

Published: NWOnewswatch, July 2023

Published: BMJ Open, July 2023

Published: Canadian Journal of Public Health, July 2023

Surveillance systems that monitor opioid-related harms in Canada do not typically collect work information. Limited data on opioid overdose deaths in Canada point to construction and trades workers as the worker groups most affected by the overdose crisis; but we know little else. Through a collaboration between the Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC) at Ontario Health and the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), a study team has expanded the Occupational Disease Surveillance System (ODSS) to include opioid-related harms. In this presentation, Dr. Nancy Carnide (IWH) and Dr. Paul Demers (OCRC) share findings that have emerged from this unique source of data on a large sample of formerly injured workers.

Published: June 2023

Alex Saurman reports on resources from the National Safety Council relating to cannabis safety, cites IWH speaker series presentation on the effects of cannabis on workers.

Published: Occupational Health & Safety, April 2023

The number of people who die or who are being hospitalized due to opioids continues to rise, prompting the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and the Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC) to launch a research project monitoring opioid-related adverse health events in order to identify the worker groups most at risk. Angela Gismondi reports.

Published: Daily Commercial News, August 2022

Published: Occupational and Environmental Medicine, July 2022

Does the use of cannabis increase a worker’s risk of having a workplace injury? Previous studies have found mixed results, but none has looked specifically at the use of cannabis just before or at work.

Published: April 2022

Does the use of cannabis increase a worker’s risk of having a workplace injury? Prior studies examining this issue have yielded mixed findings and have had some important methodological shortcomings. In this presentation, Dr. Nancy Carnide shares new findings from a longitudinal study of Canadian workers looking at the relationship between cannabis use and workplace injury—including workplace use.

Published: March 2022