Trusted research, with reach and impact

The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) is an independent, multidisciplinary, not-for-profit research organization located in Ontario, Canada. IWH conducts and mobilizes research that supports policy-makers, employers and workers in creating healthy, safe and inclusive work environments.

Latest news & findings

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Apply for the Cameron Mustard Early Career Accelerator Award

Are you an early-career researcher in the field of work and health? IWH is now accepting applications for the Cameron Mustard Early Career Accelerator Award. Named after the former president and senior scientist at IWH, this award was set up to honour Mustard’s commitment to mentoring future generations of work and health researchers and to strengthening the work and health research ecosystem. Applications are due December 8.

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Which workers use active forms of transportation in their commutes?

Walking, biking, or taking public transportation to work is one way workers can increase their physical activity. But does the choice to use active transportation differ for workers in different jobs, or between men and women? This study aimed to find out.

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In which occupations are formerly injured Ontario workers most at-risk of opioid-related harms?

Formerly injured workers in certain occupations are at an elevated risk of experiencing opioid-related harms, according to a study by IWH and the Occupational Cancer Research Centre. Looking within a large sample of formerly injured Ontario workers, occupational groups with greater risks of harms included construction, forestry and logging, materials handling, and processing.

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MEDIA RELEASE: Injured workers have higher rates of opioid poisonings than the general population: study

October 17, 2024 (Toronto, Ont.)—People who have previously experienced a work-related injury are more likely to experience opioid poisonings and other opioid-related harms than the general population. That’s according to research conducted by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and the Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC), using data from 1.7 million Ontario workers who had an accepted lost-time workers’ compensation claim between 1983 and 2019.

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IWH thanks outgoing Board members, welcomes new ones

IWH warmly sends its thanks to three outgoing members of the Board of Directors for their years of service, and welcomes to the Board three new members.

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IWH Speaker Series

Learn directly from IWH researchers themselves about their latest findings in health, safety and disability prevention. The IWH Speaker Series is a livestream webinar series that features new study findings from the Institute for Work & Health. The webinars are usually held once a month, on a Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. EST. Recordings are also available to watch on demand.

View IWH Speaker Series

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Tools and guides

Integrate evidence-based policies and practices into your occupational health and safety, return-to-work and rehabilitation programs. IWH has created a number of tools and guides based on our research findings that can help improve program outcomes.

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Impact case studies

Find out how IWH research is making a difference. Read our impact case studies, in which policy-makers, workplaces and other stakeholders in health, safety and disability prevention tell how IWH research helped improve their policies, programs and practices.

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Research summaries

Whether it’s a policy briefing, a systematic review summary or the highlights of a specific research project, we’ve compiled a number of plain-language summaries to help you understand the research we’re doing, what we have found, and how we found it.

Get the summaries