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

Sign up now: Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA) launch event
On Thursday, May 18, the Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA) social innovation laboratory is hosting a launch event. This partnered, knowledge-to-practice initiative is focused on building employers’ capacity to hire, promote and retain persons with disabilities, and to create accessible and inclusive workplaces.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/inclusive-design-for-employment-access-idea-launch-virtual-attendance-tickets-602804042117
Now available: a tool to help workers with chronic conditions find job-tailored supports
The IWH-led Accommodating and Communicating about Episodic Disabilities partnership has officially launched the Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT) for workers. The evidence-based tool is designed to help workers with chronic conditions identify job supports that they can implement — on their own or with their supervisor’s approval — that allow them to keep working safely and productively without having to disclose their health condition.
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What might the future working world look like for young adults with disabilities?
An IWH research team has examined how working life could change in Canada over the next seven years and what the implications might be for young adults with a disability. Using strategic foresight methods, the team created three future scenarios that are designed to provoke discussion about the policies needed now to ensure an inclusive future for people with disabilities.
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IWH unveiling tool to help workers with chronic conditions find job-tailored supports
An evidence-based tool from the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) helps workers with chronic conditions learn about customized job supports and modifications that can help them continue to work safely, comfortably and productively. On March 21 at an IWH Speaker Series webinar, Senior Scientist Dr. Monique Gignac unveils the new Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT) developed by the Accommodating and Communicating about Episodic Disabilities (ACED) partnership. She describes the tool, how it works and the studies conducted to back it up.
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IWH Speaker Series webinar explores persistent pain after work injury
How common is it for injured workers to continue experiencing pain after a work injury? In the next IWH Speaker Series, on November 15, Dr. Kathleen Dobson shares findings from a study conducted with workers’ compensation claimants in Ontario.
Sign up for the webinar