IWH in the media

The union safety effect is real — at least in Ontario’s major construction sector, writes John Dujay in reporting on research findings from IWH Scientist Dr. Lynda Robson

The response of employers to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a mixed bag. As the economy reopens, employers face new challenges navigating health and productivity pitfalls when bringing workers back to physical premises. The National Basketball Association’s experiences returning to the hard court last season was a well-publicized achievement. IWH Scientist Dr. Arif Jetha and Public Health Ontario's Dr. Brendan Smith list four important lessons from the NBA for employers on how to return employees to the workplace during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Labour activists in Quebec and Ontario say more transparency is needed around COVID-19 outbreaks in warehouses and factories, writes the Canadian Press's Jacob Serebrin, with comments from IWH President Dr. Cameron Mustard.

When the province-wide lockdown starts on Boxing Day, Ontario’s essential workers will still be going to work. But what is abundantly clear is that what we have done in the past to protect essential workers has not been working, write Sabina Vohra, Dr. Naheed Dosani, Dr. Seema Marwaha and Semir Bulle in an op-ed. An IWH joint study on mental health and the adequacy of COVID-19 protection measures is cited.

Poor workplace COVID-19 precautions exacted a greater toll on workers’ mental health than losing a job during the pandemic, a new study has found. The Toronto Star's Sara Mojtehedzadeh speaks to co-leads of the study, Institute for Work & Health's Dr. Peter Smith and Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers's John Oudyk.

If walking and talking robots are coming to replace employees at counters, desks and tills, Canadians don’t appear to be too concerned about it. The Toronto Star's Kieran Leavitt reports on a survey by the Environics Institute, with comments from IWH's Dr. Arif Jetha.

Feelings of anxiety and depression were highest among workers whose perceived personal protective equipment and infection control needs were not met during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Safety + Health reports on a study by the Institute for Work & Health and Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers.

Whether it’s factories, food processing plants or construction sites, the latest numbers show heavily populated, essential workplaces are hotspots for COVID-19 in Ontario, Mark Carcasole reports, with quotes from Institute for Work & Health's Dr. Cameron Mustard.

Canadian health-care workers say they lacked adequate COVID-19 precautions during the pandemic’s first wave and new research finds this also contributes to poorer mental health. Workers Health & Safety Centre shares findings from a study by IWH and Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW), published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

While personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection control procedures are often discussed as measures to reduce virus transmission, we also need to understand their importance in the context of mental health, especially since the mental health impacts of COVID-19 may linger beyond the pandemic, writes IWH Senior Scientist Dr. Peter Smith in The Conversation.