Listed below are selected articles published by organizations external to the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) that mention the Institute’s work. This includes articles that report on IWH research and/or quote Institute researchers, as well as articles written by IWH researchers or staff. The organizations include general media, specialty media in the field of work injury and disability prevention, and prevention system partners. The list runs from the most recent to the oldest media mention. It is not exhaustive.
Construction sector faces 'crisis' as poor mental health, suicide, substance use harms grow
Compared to the overall labour force in Ontario and Alberta, construction workers are almost twice as likely to die because of suicide and are two and a half times as likely to die because of substance use. Those are some of the early findings from a new analysis by the Institute for Work and Health, which identifies what some are calling a crisis among construction workers, writes Lindsay Kelly.
Media outlet
Northern Ontario Business
Date published
What Canadian employers can learn from Australian peers about supporting workers’ psychological health
When it comes to employees’ psychological health, Australian employers are increasingly focusing on reducing psychosocial risks in the workplace — and there are lessons for Canadian employers in this approach, writes Blake Wolfe, reporting on a webinar presentation by Dr. Peter Smith hosted by the Institute for Work & Health, during a webinar hosted by the organization on Tuesday.
Media outlet
Benefits Canada
Date published
Strengthening workplace safety for small business workers
Small businesses often experience higher worker injury and fatality rates than large organizations in the same sector due to limited health and safety knowledge and resources. A recent study conducted by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) addressed gaps in research on new businesses – often classified as small businesses – and occupational health and safety (OHS).
Media outlet
Workers Health & Safety Centre
Date published
Research, policy and practice converge at New Horizons in Safety Summit
Ontario's safety community gathered for a full day of research, policy debate and practical insight. Dr. Arif Jetha, associate scientific director and scientist at the Institute for Work and Health (IWH), delivered some of the day's most striking numbers, writes Shane Mercer.
Media outlet
Canadian Occupational Safety
Date published
Employers shoulder $110B burden as mental health costs Canada $180B a year
A new report from CSA Group’s Public Policy Centre pegs the annual economic cost of poor mental health in Canada at $180 billion, a figure the authors say is likely conservative, writes Shane Mercer. The modelling used in the report, co-authored by IWH's Dr. Kathleen Dobson, focuses largely on working‑age Canadians and counts direct health and social service spending alongside lost productivity.
Media outlet
Canadian Occupational Safety
Date published
Mental health illnesses costing employers $110 billion each year: report
Poor mental health now represents one of the largest cost and productivity risks facing Canadian employers, according to a new report co-authored by Olga Morawczynski, IWH's Kathleen Dobson and William Howatt, reports Jim Wilson.
Media outlet
Human Resources Director Canada
Date published
New small businesses often lack basic safety management, IWH study finds.
About 100,000 businesses are created in Canada each year that will employ workers. Many of these new firms are small and staffed by short‑tenure employees, two factors linked to higher injury risk. But as Shane Mercer reports, in an IWH study sample, only a tenth has put in place all available safety measures, while as many as a quarter has implemented none.
Media outlet
Canadian Occupational Safety
Date published
Leading through language barriers for a safe workplace
The Institute for Work and Health (IWH) conducted a study to assess how immigrant workers are being supported and protected in the workplace. The study informed the development of Immigrant Workers and Language Diversity at Work: What Employers Can Do to Keep Workers Safe—a resource that provides practical guidance for addressing language barriers.
Media outlet
The Trusted Leader Blog
Date published
When job quality drops, death rates rise: new Canadian study
A new IWH study reinforces the importance of examining the health effects of job quality. It also underscores the need to look beyond the standard-versus-precarious-job binary and explore the other types of job quality in between.
Media outlet
Workers Health & Safety Centre
Date published
Labours lost: How opioid deaths are hollowing out the construction industry
For families, the tragedy of opioids is beyond measure. For Canada, the cost is tens of billions in lost productivity, reports Jason Kirby. The article also cites IWH's Dr. Nancy Carnide, who co-led research examining 13,700 opioid poisonings among 1.7 million people in Ontario who received workers compensation for injuries between 2006 and 2020.
Media outlet
The Globe and Mail
Date published