Past events

22 Mar 2011

IWH Speaker Series

Determinants of nurses' use of facial protective equipment

Kathryn Nichol, Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL)

Communicable respiratory illness is a serious occupational threat to health-care workers. A key reason for occupational transmission is failure to use appropriate barrier precautions. Facial protective equipment, including surgical masks, respirators and eye/face protection, is the type of personal protective equipment least used by health-care workers, yet it is an important barrier precaution against communicable respiratory illness. This plenary will present the findings of a study that was undertaken to describe nurses’ adherence to recommended use of facial protective equipment and to identify the factors that influence adherence. A two-phased study was conducted.The first phase was a cross-sectional survey of nurses in selected units of six acute-care hospitals in Toronto, Ontario. The second phase was a direct observational study of critical care nurses.

1 Mar 2011

IWH Speaker Series

Systematic review on depression in the workplace

Andrea Furlan, Institute for Work & Health; William Gnam, Institute for Work & Health

In this presentation, IWH scientists Dr. Andrea Furlan and Dr. William Gnam describe the findings of the study that aimed to determine which intervention approaches to manage depression in the workplace have been successful and yielded values for employers in developed economies.

22 Feb 2011

IWH Speaker Series

Repeat workers' compensation claims - who is at risk?

Alex Collie, Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research

Many of the factors associated with risk of work-related injury and associated disability are well-known. Analysis of workers' compensation data has contributed to knowledge in this area. Such analysis almost exclusively treats each workers' compensation claim as a discrete event. A different approach would be to examine risk of injury within an individual worker over a defined period of time. This study sought to describe factors associated with repeat workers' compensation claims and to compare the work disability arising in workers with single and multiple claims.

25 Jan 2011

IWH Speaker Series

Health-care workers who experience mental health issues: "It’s not OK to be not OK"

Sandra Moll, McMaster University

The health-care sector is an important context for understanding the experience of workers with mental health and/or addictions issues. Concerns have been expressed regarding growing rates of mental health-related absenteeism as well as presenteeism among Canadian health-care workers. Although the extent of the problem has been documented from a managerial perspective, little is known about the problem from the perspective of workers themselves, or about how their experiences are shaped by the organizational context within which they work. This presentation will show findings from a study conducted within a large mental health-care facility. The presenter will discuss pervasive, complex, often paradoxical nature of silence surrounding the mental health of health-care workers will be discussed, as well as the role that silence serves in maintaining institutional order.

18 Jan 2011

IWH Speaker Series

The role of organizational policies and practices in return to work: Findings from the readiness for return-to-work cohort

Ben Amick, Institute for Work & Health

Organizational policies and practices (OPPs) are one of a group of leading indicators being examined in Ontario to assess occupational health and safety performance of organizations. In the Institute for Work & Health Readiness for Return-to-Work Cohort, the relationship between OPPs and return to work and successful work functioning are examined. In particular, we examine two ways through which OPPs may operate to affect important return-to-work outcomes.

11 Jan 2011

IWH Speaker Series

Mortality following unemployment in Canada, 1991-2001

Cameron Mustard, Institute for Work & Health

This presentation will describe the association between unemployment and cause-specific mortality for a cohort of working-age Canadians. The cohort is based on the census mortality follow-up study, a representative 15 per cent sample of the non-institutionalized population of Canada aged 30-69 at cohort inception in 1991 who were followed for 11 years (888,000 men and 711,600 women who were occupationally active).

15 Dec 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Examining trends in the incidence and cost of workers’ compensation claims in the Ontario and British Columbia long-term care sectors, 1998-2007

Cameron Mustard, Institute for Work & Health

More than 60,000 full-time equivalent workers are employed in the long-term care sector in Ontario and more than 14,000 in British Columbia. How do the rates and nature of their workplace injuries compare? How do experience rating programs and other policy initiatives in the two provinces influence injury prevention and disability management practices within their respective long-term care sectors? Answers to these questions are starting to emerge from a study examining trends in workers' compensation claim activity and benefit expenditures for work-related health conditions among employees in the long-term care sectors in British Columbia and Ontario from 1998-2007. IWH President and Senior Scientist Dr. Cam Mustard will discuss the preliminary findings of this two-year study, which is now at its mid-point.

14 Dec 2010

IWH Speaker Series

The Ontario Health Study: Creating platforms for revolutionary science and transformational biology

Lyle Palmer, Ontario Health Study

This presentation describes the Ontario Health Study (OHS) - the biggest community-based health study ever undertaken in North America. The OHS is a long-term study that will help us understand the causes, prevention and treatment of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, asthma and diabetes.

7 Dec 2010

IWH Speaker Series

A delicate dance with many partners: Immigrant workers’ experiences of injury reporting and claim filing

Agnieszka Kosny, Institute for Work & Health

Based on a qualitative study with new immigrants and service providers, this presentation will examine new immigrants’ experiences of injury reporting and claim filing. Suggested are some ways that policies and practices related to injury prevention, health and safety education and workers’ compensation can be changed to better serve new immigrant workers.

29 Nov 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Light's contributions to well-being: implications for workplaces

Jennifer Veitch, National Research Council (NRC) Institute for Research in Construction

In addition to being the stimulus for vision, there is increasing evidence that light influences biology and behaviour through other mechanisms. Laboratory studies, clinical evidence, and epidemiological studies are elucidating effects on hormone regulation, neurotransmitter function, and revealing behavioural and health effects not previously recognized. For instance, daytime light exposure influences both immediate social behaviours and night-time sleep quality. The evidence suggests that good health requires a minimum daily dose of light, although we do not yet know what the dose ought to be. The presentation will give an overview of recent research, give an indication of research gaps, and summarize possible implications for practical applications through workplace design, architecture, and individual light hygiene habits.

23 Nov 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Precarious employment and the internal responsibility system

Wayne Lewchuk, McMaster University

Research over the last few years has advanced our understanding of the impact of precarious employment on health. Approaches such as the Employment Strain Model developed by Lewchuk, Clarke and deWolff point to the interaction between employment uncertainty, effort finding and keeping employment, and support at work as key determinants of the health outcomes of workers in precarious employment. At the same time, workers in precarious employment face a health and safety regulatory system that was designed at time when the standard employment relationship was the norm and unions had some influence in Canadian workplaces. This presentation will use our understanding of how work affects the health of precarious workers to explore the limitations of the existing health and safety regulatory framework. Much of the discussion will focus on the kinds of policies and initiatives that will improve the health of those in precarious employment.

18 Nov 2010

Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture

Improving quality and performance in health services: Reflections from Cancer Care Ontario

Terrence Sullivan, Cancer Care Ontario

Initiatives to improve the quality of care in Ontario’s publicly funded health-care system are a prominent focus of current policy, with the introduction of the Excellent Care for All legislation. Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) commissions the full range of ambulatory cancer treatments along with surgical wait time reduction efforts. Within Ontario, CCO has been a leader in quality improvement initiatives in the past 10 years, using a number of strategies to continually improve the performance of cancer services. These include regularly reviewing the performance of each regional cancer centre and working with regional vice presidents and clinical leaders to address problems. These strategies also include the provincial-regional alignment of leadership objectives, provision of funding contingent upon results, and the reporting of results to cancer care providers and the public. From his perspective as the leader of a health-care commissioning agency with a core commitment to quality improvement, Dr. Sullivan will speak on lessons learned and possible considerations for the commissioning of health services more broadly.

11 Nov 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Occupational safety in hospital nursing: organizational contexts

Sean Clarke, RBC Chair in Cardiovascular Nursing Research

Hospital nurses, like many other providers of health and human services, work in complex organizations, collaborate extensively with a number of different disciplines, and both their work experience and the quality of their clients’ outcomes is heavily influenced by layers of contexts, including the management and policy decisions. Health care as an industry is in a profound state of uncertainty with escalating costs and unrelenting demand joining uncertainty in the stability of financing and the long-term ability of workforce supply to meet demand. After outlining a framework for thinking about organizational context in relation to nurse and patient outcomes in hospital settings, results from a series of studies examining incidence and predictors (both worker and organizational characteristics) of needlestick injuries — at one time a serious occupational health risk in hospital nurses — will be presented in addition to some work regarding psychosocial outcomes (notably burnout and job satisfaction) and patient health outcomes in relation to organizational context. The presentation will then conclude by discussing historical and newer workforce and workforce policy developments related to potential applications of this research, as well as directions for future study.

2 Nov 2010

IWH Speaker Series

The challenges of estimating exposure to workplace carcinogens in Canada

Paul Demers, Occupational Cancer Research Centre

Organizations such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer have identified over 60 workplace carcinogens, and many more suspected carcinogens, to which thousands of Canadians continue to be exposed. However, relatively little is known regarding how many are exposed, where and how they are exposed, and their level of exposure. This data is essential for effective cancer prevention efforts and CAREX Canada was created to fill this data gap. In this presentation I will present an overview of the project, including the creation of a Canadian Workplace Exposure Database, and present some key results for high priority carcinogens in Ontario.

12 Oct 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Examining changes in injuries submitted as no-lost-time claims in Ontario between 1991 and 2006

Peter Smith, Institute for Work & Health

Since 1991, Ontario has seen a divergence in workers’ compensation claim rate trends for injuries that do and do not require time off work. While claims requiring time off work (lost-time claims) have reduced by 46 per cent, claims that do not require time away from work after the day of injury (no-lost-time claims) have remained relatively stable (declining by 9 per cent). At this plenary we will report the results of a recently completed project at the Institute for Work & Health which sought to examine: the factors associated with an increased risk of no-lost-time claims (between 1991 and 2006); trends in the health-care costs associated with no-lost-time claims (between 1991 and 2006); and compare the nature of injury and event leading to injury associated with no-lost-time claims during the introduction of a mandatory experience rating program in the province of Ontario (by extracting injury information from 9,250 no-lost-time claims over four different time periods (1991, 1996, 2000 and 2005). Results related to these objectives will be presented and implications for occupational health and safety injury surveillance and workers’ compensation policy will be discussed.

28 Sep 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Where should we be going, and how should we get there?

Ben Amick, Institute for Work & Health

Leading indicators of occupational health and safety system performance help leaders and decision-makers make evidence informed decisions about targeting strategies, policy needs, organizational changes needed and system equity issues. They create a common ground for discussion and debate about what key occupational health and safety system actors are doing, how well they are doing it and where policy influences practice. A key group of leading indicators are about organizational performance. Yet there remains little consensus on what are the best leading indicators of organizational performance are reflecting little consensus in the scientific community. In Ontario, the Ministry of Labour (MOL), Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and the Health and Safety Associations (HSAs) collaborated to develop a leading indicator. The work was lead by the Health and Safety Associations and supported by the Institute for Work & Health. The project resulted in a short two-page questionnaire to be administered to management representatives of 1000 Ontario employers. Over 800 employers participated and IWH linked the employer data to WSIB claims data. Results will be presented to show the reliability and validity of the eight questions developed as a leading indicator of organizational performance. Next steps for the use of the metric will be discussed. The project raised many questions and has resulted in a larger survey of 5000 Ontario employers to build on this work and to determine the feasibility of developing a benchmarking knowledge base for the Ontario Prevention System.

14 Sep 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Worker representation in OHS – a good idea going where?

Andy King, United Steel Workers

Although worker participation in OHS is much discussed in theory and practice, worker representation receives much less attention. A key element in improving OHS throughout history, worker representation was formally recognized by the Ham Commission in Ontario in 1976 as a constitutive element of a fair occupational health and safety system. It has been subject to evolving policies since, many of which seek to minimize its significance and reduce worker participation to individual responsibility. The Labour OHCOW Academic Collaboration (LOARC) was created to provide a forum for exploring the role and potential of worker representation. In this presentation, we will discuss the origins of worker representation in OHS, the importance of activism, the significance of Ham’s recommendations and their subsequent adoption into legislation, the challenge of globalization and economic restructuring, and the threat of relativism.

1 Jun 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Futures studies: its role in setting research agendas for work and health

Niki Ellis, Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research

Futures studies are developing as a discipline, and are increasingly being used by business and government in strategic planning. The Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research (ISCRR) is a new Australian institute that has been modelled on the Institute for Work & Health in Toronto. It will be using a futures methodology to determine trends relevant to safety (and health), compensation and recovery for up to the period 2030, knowledge needs for the future and thus research priorities for 2011/14. The theory underpinning this work will be presented, along with the proposed method which will combine data text mining for relevant future trends and structured consultations, both virtual and face-to-face, through a think tank supported by leading-edge social network and collaborative project management technology. The methodology will be illustrated with a case study of work undertaken in the Centre for Military and Veterans’ Health in 2007-08, led by the author.

25 May 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Modeling work disability prevention: An unmet challenge yet

Patrick Loisel, Work Disability Prevention CIHR Strategic Training Program

Models, as theoretical representations of complex individual and social issues, help to understand issues and find appropriate solutions. Modeling work disability prevention is progressively developing from several domains and is in search of its own unifying perspective. A practical use of this will be discussed.

11 May 2010

IWH Speaker Series

Work disability prevention knowledge transfer initiatives for physical therapists in Alberta

Doug Gross, University of Alberta

This presentation describes the results of clinician- and system-level KT initiatives aimed at understanding an observed mismatch between clinical practice and current evidence in work disability prevention by physical therapists by fostering best practice have been developed and implemented in Alberta. The clinician-level project included development and dissemination of a best practice resource guide and “tool kit” for work disability prevention by physical therapists, creation of a network of peer-selected Educationally Influential physical therapists, province-wide seminars for practicing clinicians, and use of these resources in the academic training curriculum. The system-level initiative involved a soft tissue injury continuum of care model designed by the Workers’ Compensation Board of Alberta that involved staged, evidence-based application of various types of physical therapy and rehabilitation services. Both projects were evaluated for their impact on return-to-work outcomes.