The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) is a Canadian leader in work injury and disability prevention research. An independent, not-for-profit organization, IWH conducts and shares actionable research to promote, protect and improve the health and safety of working people.
Want to deepen your knowledge on systematic reviews? IWH's systematic review workshop is back this spring! It will be held from June 20 to 21, in-person in Toronto. Attendees will learn how to plan, conduct and communicate the results of a systematic review. If you are a clinician, clinical trainee, academic or researcher with an interest in the methodology of systematic reviews, register by June 7 to attend.
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. Presentations, panel discussions and breakout sessions provided a lot of food for thought about the way forward.
An IWH study examined how opioid harms in a large group of formerly injured Ontario workers compared to harms in the general Ontario population. They found that the formerly injured workers had higher risks of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for opioid-related harms. This pattern was seen across most occupations and industries within this group of workers.
Need help getting your research out to the world? IWH has just launched a new guide to help researchers and organizations plan knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) strategies. Informed by the research literature on KTE and IWH’s more than 30 years of experience, this guide aims to help enhance the relevance, quality and use of research to inform policy or practice. Topics covered include building stakeholder relationships, integrating stakeholder engagement throughout the research process, and using multiple channels to communicate research findings.
The unpredictable and often invisible nature of episodic disabilities can make it challenging for workers to find and sustain employment while managing their fluctuating symptoms and work demands. For young adults navigating early career phases, these challenges may also have life-long impacts on their career progression and health. Researchers on an IWH study set out to investigate whether employment support programs for young adults with episodic disabilities may also impact their health.
IN THE CURRENT ISSUE...
Institute study examines the effectiveness of working-at-heights training standard
A new data tool highlights patterns of opioid-related harms among Ontario workers
New versions of job accommodation planning tool help employers support staff with episodic disabilities
And more....
Integrate evidence-based policies and practices into your occupational health and safety, return-to-work and rehabilitation programs. IWH has created a number of tools and guides based on our research findings that can help improve program outcomes.
Find out how IWH research is making a difference. Read our impact case studies, in which policy-makers, workplaces and other stakeholders in health, safety and disability prevention tell how IWH research helped improve their policies, programs and practices.
Whether it’s a policy briefing, a systematic review summary or the highlights of a specific research project, we’ve compiled a number of plain-language summaries to help you understand the research we’re doing, what we have found, and how we found it.
Learn directly from the researchers themselves about their latest findings in health, safety and disability prevention. We host regular presentations (in person or live stream) through our IWH Speaker Series and our annual Nachemson lecture.