Past events
IWH Speaker Series
A scoping review of Clinical Decision Support tools for managing disabling MSDs
Ivan Steenstra, Institute for Work & Health
Front-line employees in health care and workers’ compensation frequently make challenging decisions about the most appropriate treatments for injured workers to help facilitate return-to-work. Clinical Decision Support (CDS) tools are designed to inform these decisions based on individual worker characteristics. In this plenary, Dr. Ivan Steenstra outlines the existing literature on these tools and examines the extent to which research evidence supports their use.
IWH Speaker Series
Improving the effectiveness of joint health and safety committees (JHSCs)
Linn Holness, Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease
An evidence-based assessment tool has been developed to help joint health and safety committees (JHSCs) establish improvement goals and ensure sustained effectiveness. In this plenary, Dr. Linn Holness shares the research behind the 21-item tool and discusses how this study, conducted in a health-care setting, could have application across Canadian workplaces.
IWH Speaker Series
An occupational hazard exposure index for economic sectors in Ontario
Cameron Mustard, Institute for Work & Health
Can a measure be created to indicate how the risk of work-related injury and illness differs from sector to sector? In this plenary, Dr. Cameron Mustard, senior scientist and president of the Institute for Work & Health, shares the research findings and research methods behind the development of an occupational hazard exposure index for 56 sectors in Ontario.
IWH Speaker Series
Assessing the validity of the IWH-OPM: Workplace case studies
Basak Yanar, Odette School of Business, University of Windsor
Workplaces and jurisdictions are looking for valid, reliable and practical indicators of occupational health and safety (OHS) performance. In light of this, OHS professionals from prevention system partners in Ontario, in collaboration with the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), developed a leading indicator known as the IWH Organizational Performance Metric (IWH-OPM). Prior testing of the eight-item IWH-OPM suggests it has acceptable internal consistency and structural validity, and is also predictive of future OHS performance (as measured by claims rates). In this plenary, Dr. Basak Yanar, a researcher and lecturer in organizational behaviour at the University of Windsor, reports on a further qualitative study of the IWH-OPM that contributes to the ongoing analysis of its measurement properties. The construct validity of the IWH-OPM was examined through case studies in five organizations, comparing the item and scale scores with observational and interview data on OHS performance. Results indicate good construct validity; that is, organizations that scored high on the scale also had the best OHS practices compared to those that scored lower on the scale.
IWH Speaker Series
Systematic review of the quantitative literature on RTW interventions
Emma Irvin, Institute for Work & Health; Kim Cullen, Institute for Work & Health
In 2004, the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) published a mixed-method systematic review on workplace‐based return‐to‐work (RTW) interventions. Recently, IWH and the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research (ISCRR) in Australia worked together to update and expand this review to include system-level or jurisdictional interventions and mental illness. In this plenary, IWH's Emma Irvin and Kim Cullen discuss the latest findings and what they mean to the practice of evidence-based return to work.
IWH Speaker Series
A toolkit approach to managing the risks of musculoskeletal disorders
Jodi Oakman, Centre for Ergonomics and Human Factors, La Trobe University, Australia
One key aspect of the research program at the Centre for Ergonomics and Human Factors is the development and evaluation of a "toolkit" for managing the risks of musculoskeletal injuries and disorders (MSDs). In this plenary, program coordinator Dr. Jodi Oakman presents this toolkit, a survey-based tool for assessing risk from both manual handling and psychosocial hazards. She also shares findings about the MSD hazard profiles across three industry sectors—manufacturing, warehousing and health-care—and discusses implications for workplace management of MSD risks.
IWH Speaker Series
Organizing for safety and reliability
Marlys Christianson, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
High reliability organizations are those with the potential for catastrophic failure, yet are nearly error-free in performance. Think aircraft carriers, electrical power grids or wildland firefighting crews. What lessons can these types of organizations, which are amply discussed in high-risk industries, offer to more conventional workplaces? In this plenary, organizational behaviour assistant professor Dr. Marlys Christianson details practices used by these organizations to address emerging problems—including some that may seem counterintuitive.
IWH Speaker Series
Perspectives on using occupational health and safety research
Dwayne Van Eerd, Institute for Work & Health
What can we learn from people in occupational health and safety (OHS) about their access to, and use of, OHS research? In this plenary, Institute for Work & Health associate scientist Dwayne Van Eerd discusses findings from a study of OHS knowledge users, including factors that help or hinder their use of OHS research in decision making.
IWH Speaker Series
Health impact of commuting among new immigrants in precarious jobs
Stephanie Premji, McMaster University
What commuting challenges do new immigrants in precarious jobs face, and how do these challenges in turn affect their employment prospects? In this plenary, Dr. Stephanie Premji shares results of a qualitative study on new immigrants working in precarious jobs and the commuting issues they face, including the health impact of those commutes.
IWH Speaker Series
How North American companies can improve workplace safety when outsourcing overseas
Hasanat Alamgir, University of Texas School of Public Health
There are about 4,000 garment factories in Bangladesh, employing 4 million, mostly young women, in harsh conditions with minimal or non-existent workplace health and safety regulations and policies. In this presentation, Dr. Hasanat Alamgir looks at the actions and responsibilities of local and Western stakeholders and outlines the progress made so far. He also shares findings of recent research on fire safety knowledge and awareness among workers and on the health status and disability of the survivors of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse.
IWH Speaker Series
Pain and prejudice: What science can learn about work from the people who do it
Karen Messing, Université du Québec à Montréal
Dr. Karen Messing, professor emeritus of ergonomics at the Université du Québec à Montréal, talks about her latest book, Pain and Prejudice: What Science Can Learn about Work from the People Who Do It. In her book, Messing reflects on her 35 years as a researcher in occupational health in Canada. She suggests that many current mechanisms for the support and publication of research prevent scientists from expressing and even experiencing empathy with injured workers. The resulting empathy gap can affect the quality of occupational health science, as well as its ability to prevent damage to workers' health.
IWH Speaker Series
Model of safety inspections
Kathryn Woodcock, Ryerson University
Although safety inspectors play a key role in safety management systems, there has been little scholarly research on how they do their jobs. In this plenary, Dr. Kathryn Woodcock presents a model of safety inspections developed through her study of safety inspections of amusement park rides and discusses strategies to support inspectors and help their knowledge acquisition.
IWH Speaker Series
Developing a measure of OHS vulnerability
Peter Smith, Institute for Work & Health
The term "vulnerability" is used increasingly in occupational health and safety (OHS) in Ontario. Although certain groups in the labour market (e.g. younger workers, temporary workers or immigrants) are often labelled as “vulnerable workers,” there is very little discussion about what the broader workplace and occupational factors are that lead to increased risk of injury among these groups, and whether these risk factors are similar across the groups. In this plenary, Dr. Peter Smith, a scientist at the Institute for Work & Health, provides an overview of the conceptual framework of OHS vulnerability. He also shares preliminary findings from a survey capturing different dimensions of OHS vulnerability across a sample of workers in Ontario and British Columbia.
IWH Speaker Series
Understanding independent medical assessments (IMA) in workers' compensation systems
Agnieszka Kosny, Institute for Work & Health
Independent medical assessors play a key role in many workers' compensation boards (WCBs), conducting investigations on a range of issues, from medical diagnosis to extent and duration of disability. In this plenary, Institute for Work & Health Scientist Dr. Agnieszka Kosny shares findings from her study on the use of independent medical assessments across 17 jurisdictions in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. She also highlights challenges from the perspectives of policy-makers and service providers, and discusses ways the use of independent medical assessments could be improved.
IWH Speaker Series
Returning to work following low-back pain: Do prognostic factors differ for acute, subacute and chronic pain?
Ivan Steenstra, Institute for Work & Health
How long does it take for someone with low-back pain to recover enough to return to work? That's a question often asked by the worker, the employer, and the workers' compensation agency alike. In this plenary, Dr. Ivan Steenstra shares prognostic factors for subacute and chronic low-back pain and compares them with prognostic factors for acute pain. He also discusses how stakeholders use prognostic information, and how their understanding of prognostic factors compares to his own findings.
IWH Speaker Series
Exploring OHS issues among people who do long commutes or leave home for extended periods for work
Barbara Neis, Memorial University
In this plenary, On the Move project director Dr. Barbara Neis, a research professor in the Department of Sociology at Memorial University and co-director of the SafeyNet Centre, explains why greater attention should be paid to the relationship between occupational health and safety (OHS) and employment-related geographic mobility. She also discusses On the Move's preliminary findings on the OHS policy challenges—including gaps in current laws and regulations—related to workers while travelling to or from work, while at work, while living at work, or while maintaining a life at home when travelling for work.
IWH Speaker Series
Examining gender/sex differences in work injury risk, consequences of work injury and the relationship between work stress and chronic disease
Peter Smith, Institute for Work & Health
Institute Scientist Dr. Smith shares details about his new five-year research program into how sex and gender shape risk of work injury, time off work after a work injury, and the relationship between the work environment and chronic illnesses.
IWH Speaker Series
Exploring a new model for occupational cancer surveillance
Paul Demers, Occupational Cancer Research Centre
There are about 60 well-established workplace carcinogens, and still more to-be-identified occupational carcinogens. Yet Canada still lacks a rapid, systematic means to assess increased cancer risk associated with occupational exposures. Although Canada collects timely and high quality information on every new cancer that is diagnosed through provincial and national registries, occupational cancer surveillance data has been limited by the lack of information on industry and occupation. In a pilot study, a research team linked Workplace Insurance and Safety Board (WSIB) lost-time claims data with the Ontario Cancer Registry (OCR). In this plenary, Dr. Paul Demers, director of the Occupational Cancer Research Centre, discusses the results of the pilot study, focusing on the feasibility of this new approach to assessing and monitoring workplace risk factors for cancer.
IWH Speaker Series
Intervention research in work and mental health: What works and what doesn't
Karen Nieuwenhuijsen, Coronel Institute of Occupational Health
Knowledge has been building about the adverse effects of mental health disorders in the workplace, from absenteeism and long-term work disability to poorer work functioning while present at work (presenteeism). In this plenary, Coronel Institute of Occupational Health assistant professor Karen Nieuwenhuijsen looks at a variety of intervention studies on mental health problems. She discusses the challenges they faced and shares evaluations of stay-at-work and return-at-work strategies for workers with mental health disorders.
IWH Speaker Series
Internal audit of psychosocial working environment in certified occupational health and management systems: Between standardization and autonomy
Anne Helbo, Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark
Occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) provide a valuable framework for assessing and managing health and safety risks in many work environments, particularly in manufacturing and industrial sectors. However, they seem to have difficulty addressing psychosocial hazards, which tend to be more prevalent in the service and public sectors. In this plenary, Aalborg University PhD student Anne Helbo looks at the practice of internal auditing as an instrument of quality control in an OHSMS—and in particular its effectiveness in addressing psychosocial risks.