Work precarity and vulnerability

This Issue Briefing provides highlights of IWH's body of evidence on "vulnerable" workers, tracking how our research has evolved from vulnerability being associated with those who are new to a job to those who are exposed to hazards with inadequate awareness, protective policies and/or empowerment.

Published: November 2016

A new way of thinking about "vulnerable workers" makes inroads with Ontario's Ministry of Labour and its partners.

Published: October 2016

Published: American Journal of Industrial Medicine, January 2016

This tool assesses the extent to which a worker may be vulnerable to occupational health and safety (OHS) risks at work in four areas: hazard exposure; workplace policies and procedures; worker awareness of hazards and OHS rights and responsibilities; and worker empowerment to participate in injury and illness prevention.

Published: January 2016

A tool developed by IWH measures three types of vulnerability to workplace health and safety risk.

Published: November 2015

The term “vulnerable workers” is used increasingly in occupational health and safety (OHS) to describe those at greater risk of injury. Research at the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) has recently explored whether worker or workplace factors are linked to worker vulnerability. The result is a new 29-item questionnaire that measures the extent to which workers are at increased risk of work-related injury and illness and conceives vulnerability as a function of four distinct dimensions.

Published: OOHNA Journal , October 2015

Published: Accident Analysis and Prevention, June 2015

29-item survey gauges vulnerability via workplace hazards, policies, procedures and worker awareness.

Published: April 2015

The term "vulnerability" is used increasingly in occupational health and safety (OHS) in Ontario. Although certain groups in the labour market (e.g. younger workers, temporary workers or immigrants) are often labelled as “vulnerable workers,” there is very little discussion about what the broader workplace and occupational factors are that lead to increased risk of injury among these groups, and whether these risk factors are similar across the groups. In this plenary, Dr. Peter Smith, a scientist at the Institute for Work & Health, provides an overview of the conceptual framework of OHS vulnerability. He also shares preliminary findings from a survey capturing different dimensions of OHS vulnerability across a sample of workers in Ontario and British Columbia.

Published: January 2015

IWH researchers looked for a better way to measure occupational health and safety (OHS) vulnerability among workers, one that moves beyond the demographic characteristics of workers to look at the factors in their workplaces that put them at increased risk of injury and illness.

Status: Completed 2016