Partnership news

January 2023: PWHS postdoctoral fellow Sonja Senthanar and former PWHS PhD student Anita Minh, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, will address precarious work in a plenary session; PhD student Xiaocong Guo will present a poster on heat-related illness and injury; and research associate Robert Macpherson will give a presentation on regional labour market conditions at the Annual Cascadia Symposium on Environmental, Occupational, and Population Health, January 5-6, 2023 in Blaine, WA.

December 2022: This paper describes the incidence of heat-related illness among workers in BC from 2001-2020. Rates were higher among male workers, younger workers, and among those working in occupations related to primary industry; trades, transport and equipment operators; and processing, manufacturing, and utilities. Read more in Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

November 2022: Chris McLeod will give a virtual talk discussing the effectiveness of HC management systems for the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium on Dec 1 at 9:30 am PST. Register here, or learn more about our research in this area.

November 2022: The inaugural edition of the IDIVOSH global forum, June 12-14 2023 in Montreal, will focus on the theme Immigration, Diversity of the Workforce, Precariousness and Vulnerabilities in Occupational Health and Safety. Abstracts are due January 9, 2023.

November 2022: This paper used a realist evaluation approach to identify when, how and why healthcare workers learn and apply violence prevention education and provides practical evidence for healthcare stakeholders to inform education, policy and practice decisions to increase the education effectiveness. Read more in Safety Science.

November 2022: This paper investigates differences in modified-return-to work (MRTW) after a work-related injury by immigration characteristics – defined as a Canadian-born worker versus a worker who immigrated via the economic, family member or refugee/other humanitarian classification. Immigrant workers who arrived to Canada as a family member or as a refugee/other immigrant had a reduced odds of MRTW within the first 30 days of work disability for a back strain, concussion and limb fracture, compared to Canadian-born workers. Read more in Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation.

October 2022: Abstracts are now being accepted for podium presentations, ignite talks, and posters on occupational, environmental, or population health topics for the Cascadia Symposium on Environmental, Occupational, and Public Health, January 5-6, 2023, at Semiahmoo Resort in Blaine, WA. The conference will feature four cross-institution, cross-disciplinary themes (precarious work & work organization, climate change, wildfires, and the built environment) as well as presentations from across the fields of environmental, occupational, and population health.

September 2022: The BC Heritage Labour Centre is dedicating a memorial to honour the victims of asbestos exposure on September 22 at 10 am at the Vancouver Convention Centre West. The memorial is being installed with the support of the Province of BC, PavCo, and WorkSafeBC.

September 2022: PWHS co-lead Mieke Koehoorn, research associate Robert Macpherson, postdoctoral fellow Sonja Senthanar, and researcher Andrea Jones are giving presentations on health and employment outcomes for immigrant workers, healthcare workers’ preference to continue remote work after the pandemic, claim rates for in- vs out-of-province workers, and the effect of COR on workplace safety at the Canadian Association for Research in Work and Health (CARWH) bi-annual conference, September 15-16, 2022.

September 2022: The annual Cascadia Symposium on Environmental, Occupational, and Public Health Conference will re-launch January 5-6, 2023 at the Semiahmoo Resort in Blaine, WA. Please save the date and stay tuned for more information!

July 2022: Listen to Chris McLeod describe the methodology we used in assessing how the COR™ program affected lost-time and high-impact injury rates in Ontario in the IHSA Safety Podcast. In this discussion, Paul Casey of Ontario’s Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) also shares what prompted IHSA to engage with PWHS.

July 2022: The Canadian Association for Research in Work and Health (CARWH) is taking place online September 15-16, 2022, with the theme “The Changing World of Work, Health and Research.” This year, attendance will be free to all. Abstract submissions for oral and poster presentations are welcome, and the deadline for submissions is extended to Friday, July 22.

June 2022: PWHS and the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) are looking for public transport workers ages 35 and under to participate in our research project to better understand the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on young workers and their workplace mental health.

June 2022: This paper examines the impact of pre-existing anxiety and depression disorders on return to work using a phase-based approach. Findings suggest that workers with a pre-existing anxiety disorder may require additional supports both during lost-time and after initial return to work. Read more in Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation.