Work and health within broader societal context
Work has a role to play in producing and maintaining inequalities in population health. But broader conditions outside work—such as economic conditions, housing affordability and access to childcare—can impact employment quality and worker health and safety. Similarly, social and income support systems can shape the experiences of workers facing a job interruption, and accessibility legislation can impact employment opportunities for persons living with disabilities. Our research explores how workers and workplaces are affected by changes to labour, social and health laws and policies, as well as by macro economic and societal conditions.
Latest findings
Exploring how workplace solutions can mitigate opioid harms among workers
With the recognition that workplaces can play a part in responding to North America’s opioid crisis, the OCRC and IWH brought together over 100 occupational health specialists, government representatives, union advocates, researchers, and others to discuss how to prevent opioid harms among workers.
Workers who had a work-related injury have higher risk of opioid-related harms than the general population in Ontario
An IWH study found that workers who had a work-related injury had higher risks of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for opioid-related harms than the general Ontario population. This pattern was seen across most occupation and industry groups,
Primary care physicians’ learning needs in returning ill or injured workers to work
While primary care physicians play an important role in helping ill and injured workers return to work (RTW), they have a variety of learning needs about how to best navigate the RTW process. These needs fall in the areas of completing administrative tasks, challenging personal beliefs, understandinIn the first systematic review on racial and ethnic inequities in return to work, IWH found strong evidence that non-white workers are less likely than white workers to return to work following an injury or illness—and moderate evidence that Black workers face pronounced barriers.
