The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) is an independent, not-for-profit research organization based in Toronto, Canada. Our goal is to protect and improve the health, safety and wellbeing of working people, and to promote their full and inclusive work participation, by providing and mobilizing high-quality, relevant research in two broad areas: work as a determinant of health, and health as a determinant of work.
What we do
Since 1990, the Institute for Work & Health has been conducting research and developing evidence-based products to inform those involved in protecting and improving the health, safety and wellbeing of workers and in promoting their full and inclusive work participation. Our multidisciplinary research examines the inter-relationships between work and health from worker, workplace and system perspectives. We also train and mentor the next generation of work and health researchers.
Our mission and values
The Institute for Work & Health focuses on a single mission: to conduct and mobilize research that supports policy-makers, employers and workers in creating healthy, safe and inclusive work environments. In pursuing this mission, we strive to ensure our research and knowledge exchange activities adhere to the values of excellence, integrity, innovation, respect, collaboration, equity and accountability.
Activity Plan
Every year, the Institute for Work & Health puts together an Activity Plan detailing the research projects, as well as the knowledge transfer and exchange and communications activities, to be undertaken at the Institute in the coming year. For each project or activity, the plan outlines the rationale for undertaking it, its objectives, the researchers and partner organizations involved, its potential significance, and (if applicable) how it links to the prevention strategies of our core funder, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
Our history
The Institute for Work & Health was established in 1990 as the Ontario Workers’ Compensation Institute. Over the following decades, the fledgling organization with six staff and a loosely defined mandate grew to be a mature and unique interdisciplinary research and knowledge transfer organization with over 50 employees. Today, the Toronto-based Institute is recognized provincially, nationally and internationally for its contribution to the fields of occupational health and safety, work injury and disability prevention, inclusive work, and work-related population health.