1. Research priorities

Changing nature of work and future of work

Diverse forces are changing the nature of work, with the potential to both positively and negatively affect workers. For example, due to advances in digital technology, the shift to remote and hybrid jobs and the continued rise of gig and platform-based employment, changes are unfolding in what people do for work, and where and how they do it. Our research seeks to understand the impact of these changes on workers, and the workplace and system-level policies and practices to ensure the health, safety and inclusion of all workers, now and in the future.

Latest findings

A group of teachers meet outside of a staff room. One holds a clipboard.

Lower injury rates found when workers feel their workplace prioritizes their wellbeing

An IWH study has found study found that poor psychosocial safety and poor physical safety both increase the risk of work-related mental and physical injuries.
A graphic of a person holding binoculars out while pointing to the horizon.

What work and health challenges might OHS professionals face by 2040?

What challenges may face occupational health and safety practitioners and policy-makers by 2040?
Dr. Arif Jetha speaks at the PAIQ launch event.

AI and job quality project gathers partners to develop roadmap

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more integrated into workplaces, a new IWH project wants to ensure that job quality—and the health and safety of workers—remains a top priority.

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OHS Vulnerability Measure

Find the workers you need to protect with this measure of vulnerability to OHS risks at work.

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IWH researchers create roadmap for AI research that prioritizes worker health

Using insights from a group of experts brought together in the fall of 2022, an IWH team has developed a four-part research agenda. It's designed to guide AI research and spark conversations to ensure worker health and safety are at the forefront of AI policy and adoption in the workplace.

Robots lift boxes from a conveyor belt in a factory without human workers

Ongoing projects

Partnership on AI and Quality of work (PAIQ)

Job quality and wellbeing in Canada: generating insights on the new world of work

Amid shifting labour market conditions in Canada, including the rise of precarious employment and of low quality jobs, this project will describe the current landscape of job quality in Canada and examine the relationship between job quality and wellbeing.

Advancing research on AI adoption and the health, safety and wellbeing of workers

This project will investigate how the design and adoption of AI within workplaces will shape the health, safety and wellbeing of workers to inform polices and programs aimed at optimizing benefits of AI for workers.

Creating safe workplaces for newcomers

An IWH qualitative study is looking at feasible and effective approaches for helping employers create safe workplaces for newcomers.

Artificial intelligence and occupational injury and illness in Ontario: implications for prevention and recovery

This study—one of the first of its kind to better understand the implications of AI for Ontario’s health and safety system—will build the evidence base on the scope and use of AI applications in OHS and RTW.

Intelligent machines and human worker inequities: examining the implications of AI in the workplace

In this first-of-its-kind study, an iWH team is looking at AI and workplace inequities.

What are the long-term health and labour market outcomes of workers who experienced work-related COVID-19 transmission?

This project fills an important knowledge gap by determining the health and return-to-work outcomes of Canadians who acquired COVID-19 at work.

Future-focused job accommodation practices for the school-to-work transition

Difficulties faced by young people during the school-to-work transition can have a lasting effect and contribute to adverse labour market outcomes that extend across one's working life. This studies explores the emerging barriers that young people with disabilities could face in accessing needed job accommodations within the changing world of work.

Assessing the psychosocial work environment in British Columbia to inform prevention activities

WorkSafeBC is in the initial stages of developing and implementing an Enterprise Mental Health Strategy. As part of its development and evaluation efforts, this project will fill knowledge gaps in the understanding of the psychosocial work environment in British Columbia, as well as workers' awareness of its impact as a workplace hazard.

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