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Workplace disability management
More and more Canadian workplaces are setting up accommodation and return-to-work (RTW) programs to help ensure employees with work-related and non-work-related injuries and illnesses are able to remain at work or return to work as quickly as they are safely able to do so. The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) conducts extensive research into the workplace policies and procedures that most effectively help workers safely remain at and return to work, as well as system-level programs (e.g. those offered by workers’ compensation boards) that support workplaces in doing so. This research also explores life-course issues, work disability trajectories, RTW prognostic factors, and the scope and impact of chronic, episodic and other conditions that are not necessarily caused by work, but affect the ability of people to find and keep work.
Latest news and findings
What is the impact of depression on years of employment among working-age adults?
If someone experiences depression, what is the impact on the length of their future working life? It depends on how, and when, someone experiences depression. An IWH study found five trajectories of depression in working adults, each with varied impacts on their future years of work.
Read about the study
Media Release - Addressing work conditions to improve public health: a series in The Lancet
October 12, 2023 (Toronto, Ontario)—Working conditions can have an impact on health and unequal health outcomes across the population. As a result, decision-makers from across different government departments should take greater note of work as a social determinant of health. That is a key message from a series of three papers published today in one of the world’s leading medical journals, The Lancet.
See the news release
IWH study finds workers are using cannabis to treat work-related conditions, mostly without medical guidance
One in seven workers with a work-related physical injury or illness said they used cannabis to treat the condition. That’s according to an IWH study based on interviews conducted with workers 18 to 36 months after their work-related illness or injury. Importantly, most of these workers had not received medical guidance on the therapeutic use of cannabis.
Read about the study
IWH study examines RTW experiences of Ontario police service members
A recent IWH study examined the experiences of sworn and civilian Ontario police service members returning to their jobs after experiencing an injury or illness. The research team found that their return-to-work (RTW) challenges revolved around five main themes.
Read about the study
Telementoring program helps care providers with challenging RTW cases
The first two rounds of the world’s first ECHO program on occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) have wrapped up, and preparation is underway for a third round this fall. We spoke to some of the health-care practitioners who attended the first two rounds to learn how ECHO OEM has helped with their most challenging return-to-work cases.
Read about ECHO OEM participants’ perspectives
