September 2015: In the early 2000s the BC Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association brought the Certificate of Recognition safety audit program to BC. On Sept 14, Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod will present the results of our evaluation of the program at their Fall Conference in Kelowna, BC. More about our evaluation of the COR program.
More information about our work evaluating health and safety programs: Health and safety programs and regulations
August 2015: Co-lead Chris McLeod’s presentation, Safety in Our DNA: How Organizational Culture is harnessed to Create Safer Work Environments, is now available, along with a full recap of the BC Care Providers conference (May 2015). Watch Chris in the video summary at minutes 2:56 and 3:21.
Learn more about our work on health and safety programs and regulations.
May 2015: Co-lead Chris McLeod spoke at the BC Care Providers conference in Whistler, BC on May 25. His talk, given with Jennifer Lyle, Executive Director of SafeCare BC, defined safety culture in a health care context and explored organizational characteristics that lead to the development of such a culture.
More information about our work with SafeCare BC: Occupational health and safety practices survey
March 2015: The CIHR Institute for Gender and Health e-newsletter is a great source for news on sex, gender, and health research in Canada. Email IGH-ISFH@cihr-irsc.gc.ca to subscribe, or read their most recent article on gender and traumatic brain injury.
March 2015: Partnership co-lead Mieke Koehoorn will give a seminar on using linked databases for work and health research on March 17 as part of the Population Data BC Spring Coast to Coast Seminar Series. A live webinar option is available.
How do I love data? Let me count the ways… Using linked databases for work and health research
Mieke Koehoorn
Population Data BC Spring 2015 Coast to Coast Seminar Series
University of BC
March 17, 2015
11:30 am – 12:30 pm
March 2015: Partnership PhD student Cheryl Peters will discuss the state of the evidence regarding sun exposure in outdoor workers in Canada, including information on sun protection behaviours, measured exposure levels, and health outcomes among this at-risk population, at Grand Rounds in the UBC School of Population and Public Health on Friday, March 13, at 9am. A live webinar option is available.
February 2015: The Occupational and Environmental Health division of the School of Population and Public Health hosts a weekly seminar series. On Feb 27 Renee-Louise Franche will give a seminar on the challenges of return-to-work. The seminar will be webcast.
Multimorbidity and chronicity: The challenging facets of return-to-work
Renee-Louise Franche
WorkSafeBC
OEH Seminar Series
School of Population and Public Health
February 27, 2015
February 2015: Mieke Koehoorn is scheduled to give seminars at Simon Fraser University on Feb 26 and and UBC on March 17. Both seminars will be webcast.
Research informing work health policies and programs using workers’ compensation claims data
Mieke Koehoorn
Research Seminar Series
Simon Fraser University Faculty of Health Sciences
February 26, 2015
How do I love data? Let me count the ways… Using linked databases for work and health research
Mieke Koehoorn
Population Data BC Spring 2015 Coast to Coast Seminar Series
University of BC
March 17, 2015
February 2015: The Partnership is seeking a Senior Data Analyst to challenge and guide our team in research design, implementation of new epidemiological and statistical methods, interpretation of administrative data, and communication of findings to researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders.
The Partnership for Work, Health and Safety brings together researchers, policymakers, and data resources from the UBC School of Population and Public Health and WorkSafeBC (the Workers’ Compensation Board of BC) to address current and emerging issues of work-related health and workers’ compensation in innovative ways. The Senior Data Analyst is responsible for providing expertise and leadership in the planning stages of research design, introducing and implementing new methods, and delivering and interpreting data for multiple projects to Partnership researchers, industry partners, and other stakeholders. The Analyst will conduct complex statistical analyses on large, integrated datasets; provide statistical modeling leadership in the linkage of data and interpretation of results; develop processes which guide the management and use of data; interact with data providers; and write publications for peer review journals. The position requires advanced research expertise and proven leadership skills.
The Partnership for Work, Health and Safety takes the lead in work-related health research in BC by developing and promoting the use of routinely collected health and compensation data from multiple sources via our data partner, Population Data BC. The data allows us to conduct research on the entire working-age population over a 25 year period, providing a unique and comprehensive portrait of the health and well being of BC’s workers. Our research results inform the design of evidence-based policies and prevention programs to create safer and more secure workplaces, and help improve opportunities for recovery after injuries occur.
Our team is comprised of a diverse and multidisciplinary group of faculty, students, and staff, situated in the School of Population and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC.
Please email Partnership Research Manager Suhail Marino at suhail.marino@ubc.ca.
January 2015: Co-lead Chris McLeod will discuss the results of his evaluation of a voluntary OHS prevention program in BC at Grand Rounds in the UBC School of Population and Public Health on Friday, January 30, at 9am. A live webinar option is available.
More information about our research in this area: Health and safety programs and regulations.
November 2014: Drs. Chris McLeod and George Astrakianakis have received funding from WorkSafeBC to evaluate the effectiveness of violence prevention programs in health care.
The project will focus on violence in health care situations, which has become a major occupational health concern with health care professionals experiencing higher rates of workplace violence compared to other occupations. The project will build on existing research into effective violence prevention and occupational health and safety management, and will develop leading and lagging indicators specific the risk of violence in health care in BC. The study will be conducted in collaboration and partnership with Fraser Health and the Vancouver Island Health Authority, who will provide access to occupational health data and facilitate the piloting of potential leading indicators within their facilities; and, also with the BC Nurses Union. Other key stakeholders will be engaged through the establishment of a project advisory committee.
An analysis of violence incidence data from the Workplace Health Indicator Tracking and Evaluation WHITE™ database, a provincial-level occupational health and safety surveillance system for healthcare, will be undertaken. Consultations with the health authorities and with focus groups will enable the development of a set of leading indicators. A pilot survey will be conducted in several Fraser Health and Vancouver Island Health Authority units; including emergency rooms, mental health units and owned and operated long-term care facilities. The results of the consultations and the survey will generate a feasible set of leading indicators that will be used to create and evaluate policies and practices to address violence prevention in health care situations.
Learn more about our work with leading indicators in occupational health: Occupational health and safety practices survey
PhD and Masters research opportunities are available under the supervision of Dr. Chris McLeod in several areas:
A research stipend may be available depending on the topic. Interested students should contact Dr. McLeod with a CV and statement of interest.
Information about the School of Population and Public Health is at spph.ubc.ca. Applications for September 2015 are open, and are due January 15 or February 1, 2015, depending on the program of study.
Prospective students interested in gender, sex, and occupational health should view the opportunities available from Partnership co-lead Mieke Koehoorn through her CIHR Chair in Gender, Work and Health.
October 2014: Partnership researchers gave five presentations and a poster on a variety of topics at CARWH in Saskatoon:
September 2014: Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod will speak at the University of Toronto on Oct. 2. His talk, entitled “Evaluating OHS prevention programs: An example of a voluntary audit-based prevention program in British Columbia”, will discuss the results of an impact evaluation of OHS certification on firm injury rates during the years 2003 to 2012 and highlight the theoretical and practical challenges of program evaluation where program participation is voluntary.
The talk is part of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health Occupational and Environmental Health Seminar Series and is scheduled for 8am on Oct. 2, 3rd floor, 480 University Ave.
More information about our work evaluating health and safety programs and regulations.
September 2014: Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod will speak at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands on Sept. 24. His talk, entitled “Using research to inform policy and practice: an example of an university-disability insurer partnership from British Columbia, Canada”, will provide an overview of work disability systems and describe the role of research using the Partnership for Work, Health and Safety as an example. It will also explore some of the distinctions between work disability coverage in central/northern Europe and North America.
The talk is scheduled for 3-4pm on Sept. 24, zaal 17, onderwijscentrum, UMCG.
July 2014: We are excited that Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod’s CIHR Operating Grant on comparative effectiveness of disability management and return to work policies and practices across jurisdictions in Canada, New Zealand and Australia has been funded.
Project Title: Return to work after work injury and illness: An international comparative effectiveness study of Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Abstract: This proposal focuses on the comparative effectiveness of work disability management and return to work policies and practices across jurisdictions that include representative Canadian provinces, Australian states and the country of New Zealand. The proposal has five aims: 1) develop a policy framework that links variation in work disability management policy and practices across participating jurisdictions to work disability and return-to-work outcomes; 2) expand current initiatives in developing comparative data across participating jurisdictions; 3) investigate, using comparable jurisdiction-specific cohorts, the trends and variations in severe work injuries and work disability with the goal of identifying the key intra- and inter-jurisdictional drivers of these differences; 4) implement an integrated knowledge engagement strategy to disseminate research findings. The proposed project will increase our understanding of effective work disability management and provide evidence on the mechanisms through which we can effectively intervene in preventing and reducing its burden.
Learn more about our national and international comparative research.
The Asbestos-related Research, Education and Advocacy Fund (AREA Fund) is hosted a walk in Powell River, BC on a beautiful Saturday, July 12th, to raise awareness of the hazards of asbestos and to honour victims of asbestos-related disease. Activities included a bbq, speakers, and memorial flower drop.
More information and photos from the day.
Learn about the Partnership’s work on asbestosis surveillance and mesothelioma awareness and compensation.
June 2014: Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod and PhD student Kim McLeod will present at the 24th International Epidemiology in Occupational Health (EPICOH) Conference, June 24-27 in Chicago.
Chris’s presentation: Evaluation of an audit-based occupational health and safety recognition program on firm work-injury rates in British Columbia, Canada.
Kim’s presentation: The Injury Prevention Effects of Regulatory Workplace Safety Inspections in British Columbia, Canada from 2001 to 2011.
Both presentations are in a session on intervention studies and prevention. Learn about the Partnership’s work on health and safety programs and regulations.
June 2014: Watch Partnership Co-lead Chris McLeod discuss occupational disease from asbestos and injury risk in young workers in BC as part of a CTV News series.
Learn about the Partnership’s work on asbestosis surveillance and mesothelioma awareness and compensation.
The Asbestos-related Research, Education and Advocacy Fund (AREA Fund) is hosting a walk in Powell River, BC on Saturday, July 12th to raise awareness of the hazards of asbestos and to honour victims of asbestos-related disease. Activities include a bbq, speakers, and memorial flower drop.
More information and online registration.
Learn about the Partnership’s work on asbestosis surveillance and mesothelioma awareness and compensation.
May 2014: Partnership PhD student Andrea Jones is attending the first OBEL Gender, Work & Health Summer School at McGill. Those interested in similar opportunities should explore the IGH Community Support Program.
April 2014: Partnership Co-lead Chris McLeod and Research Coordinator Jonathan Fan will present at the International Health Data Linkage Conference, April 28-30 in Vancouver.
Chris’s presentation: The development and use of administrative, workers’ compensation data for policy-relevant research questions on work and health: examples from a university
Jonathan’s presentation: The potential of cross-jurisdictional comparisons: a pilot study of work injury and disability in Victoria, Australia and British Columbia, Canada
March 2014: Mieke Koehoorn is a Partnership Co-lead and holds a CIHR Research Chair in Gender, Work and Health. Her top five essential readings/resources on gender, sex, and health research are as follows:
Ute Bültmann, Professor of Community and Occupational Medicine, and Rosalind Franklin Fellow, Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center, University of Groningen
Coach House, Green College, UBC
March 12, 5:00-6:30 pm
Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety and adjustment disorders, have emerged as major public and occupational health problems in many countries. According to the World Health Organization, by 2030 unipolar depressive disorders will be the biggest economic and social health burden on society. Mental health problems affect the quality of life of the individual, are often recurrent in nature, and have a negative impact on social relationships and functioning. Costs for employers will increase due to decreased workplace productivity Costs for society will rise due to increases in sickness absence, work disability, and/ or unemployment benefits. To curtail the burden Bültmann believes it is important to increase the evidence base for the effective prevention of work disability in workers with mental health problems and for the facilitation of a sustainable working life. In her talk, Bültmann will illustrate the unique challenges presented by mental health problems by focusing on: 1) the current evidence from return-to-work interventions, and 2) the workplace as arena for interventions addressing workplace issues and support structures that facilitate return to work, prevent recurrences, and enable a sustainable working life.
More about the Green College Population Health lecture series.
PhD and Masters research opportunities are available under the supervision of Dr. Chris McLeod in several areas:
A research stipend may be available depending on the topic. Interested students should contact Dr. McLeod with a CV and statement of interest.
Information about the School of Population and Public Health, including application deadlines, is at spph.ubc.ca.
October 2013: Kim McLeod, a Partnership PhD trainee funded by WorkSafeBC, presented her her work on health and safety inspections at a WorkSafeBC research trainee event on Sept. 27.
September 2013: Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod spoke about implementation and evaluation of workplace OHS interventions at the 2013 Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC) Learning Symposium in Saint John NB. He was a panelist with Ben Amick, with the panel considering traditional regulatory approaches as well as voluntary and incentive-based programs.
July 2013: Partnership Program Manager Suhail Marino and Research Coordinator Billy Quirke walked in the annual Walk for Truth, hosted by the Asbestos-related Research, Education and Advocacy Fund (AREA Fund) in Powell River, BC on Saturday, June 22nd. They walked to raise awareness of the hazards of asbestos and to honour victims of asbestos-related disease.
More information and photos from the day.
Watch a video about the event from Shaw TV Powell River.
Learn about the Partnership’s work on asbestosis surveillance and mesothelioma awareness and compensation.
June 2013: Congratulations to Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod on his receipt of a new investigator award for his research program on work and health. The program of research, entitled “A comparative and cross-jurisdictional research program on work and health”, is funded for five years.
Chris’s work will examine how we can develop social, economic, and workplace policies to reduce health inequities over the working life course. The program is organized around two research areas:
This research builds on previous scholarship that found that the negative association between unemployment and health was smaller in societies with greater economic and social supports for unemployed workers. It will examine a broader range of work experiences and health outcomes across a set of high-income countries that have different ways of organizing and structuring their labour market. This research program will advance our understanding of work-related health inequalities in Canada and internationally. It innovates by developing and extending comparative methods and by building and extending data and research partnerships that will have long-standing and practical impact. Its focus in investigating contextual effects across jurisdictions – whether they are institutional or structural aspects or specific policies – will provide evidence on the mechanisms through which we can effectively intervene in improving health in the workplace and in reducing work-related health inequalities.
June 2013: Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod will speak about the promise and challenge of using workers compensation data in comparative, cross-jurisdictional research at the 23rd Conference on Epidemiology in Occupational Health (EPICOH) in Utrecht, The Netherlands on June 20. His presentation is part of a mini-symposium on workers compensation. Read more about our international comparative research.
The Asbestos-related Research, Education and Advocacy Fund (AREA Fund) is hosting a walk in Powell River, BC on Saturday, June 22nd to raise awareness of the hazards of asbestos and to honour victims of asbestos-related disease. Activities include a bbq, book readings, and kids activities.
More information and online registration.
Learn about the Partnership’s work on asbestosis surveillance and mesothelioma awareness and compensation.
May 2013: Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod is a recipient of a UBC Hampton Research Fund award for his project entitled “The health and well being consequences of the great recession: a comparative and cross-jurisdictional analysis.”
Hampton Fund Research Grants are designed to fund research that is short-term, interdisciplinary, and that forms a new direction in the research career of the investigator.
Dr. McLeod’s study aims to:
March 2013: Partnership Co-Lead Chris McLeod will speak about the opportunities and challenges in comparing occupational health and safety performance across jurisdictions at the 1st International Workshop: Comparing the Performance of International OHS and Workers’ Compensation Systems, March 14-15, 2013, in Melbourne, Australia.
March 2013: Partnership research published in Chronic Diseases in Canada finds a high prevalence of active asthma in the working population of BC, and in particular, higher rates among females compared to males and in industries with known respiratory sensitizers such as dust and chemical exposures.
February 2013: The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba Research and Workplace Innovation Program has provided funding for a 2 year project that will analyse long duration and severe injury claims among three Canadian provinces, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Ontario.
The study has three aims: 1) to create comparable cohorts of injured workers in the three study provinces; 2) to conduct analyses investigating the trends and variations in long-duration and serious injury claim rates across these three provinces with the goal of identifying the key intra- and inter-jurisdictional drivers of the claims rate; and, 3) to publish an compendium of findings that would serve as a policy and reference tool for compensation systems and other stakeholders.
February 2013: It is with great sadness that we mark the sudden passing of our colleague Dr. Clyde Hertzman on February 8, 2013. Clyde’s influence in the fields of occupational health, population health, epidemiology, and early child development has been significant within BC, nationally, and internationally.
For over 20 years, Clyde played a major role in using compensation data and promoting data linkage in BC. Clyde was one of the pioneering researchers who led work in support of the Royal Commission on Workers’ Compensation in BC in 1998, the foundational project that led to the establishment of the Partnership for Work, Health and Safety.
Our thoughts are with his family, and the many people to whom he was an esteemed colleague, mentor, and inspiration.
Further tribute to Clyde’s work can be found on the School of Population and Public Health and Centre for Health Services and Policy Research websites. Tributes can be shared on the Human Early Learning Partnership website.
February 2013: Partnership Co-Lead Mieke Koehoorn was named a CIHR Chair in Gender, Work and Health. Her Chair will support Partnership projects investigating gender and sex differences in work injury and illness rates in BC, and gender and sex differences in work disability outcomes across compensation systems in Canada and internationally.
Partnership activities over the past year have focused on research, data development, and knowledge translation and exchange. Research highlights include advances in our work on mesothelioma compensation, serious work-related injuries, and the relationship between sex, gender, work injury, and disability duration. Our data development activities have focused on building a database, held by Population Data BC, using data from WorkSafeBC’s Claims Management System. Knowledge translation efforts included the launch of our new Partnership website in May 2012 and a major presence at the Canadian Association for Research on Work and Health conference in Vancouver in June 2012.
We have also developed two new strategic foci over the past year: the evaluation of occupational health and safety programs and regulations and the development of a national and international comparative research agenda.
And, we congratulate our outstanding research trainees, who have won awards, published papers, and successfully transitioned from school to work roles this year.
November 2012: Partnership co-lead Chris McLeod spoke to local manufacturing and food industry CEOs about evaluation of the BC Safety Charter initiative at the FIOSA-MIOSA BC Safety Charter Annual Roundtable Event on Nov. 29 in Vancouver.
October 2012: Partnership co-lead Mieke Koehoorn will speak about differences in disability duration for work-related injuries at CIHR’s Advancing Excellence in Gender, Sex and Health Research conference in Montreal on Oct. 30. Read more about our work in this area.
October 2012: Partnership co-lead Mieke Koehoorn gave a presentation about asbestos-related disease and workers’ compensation at the Occupational and Environmental Medical Association of Canada Annual Scientific Conference on Oct. 1, 2012.
September 2012: Partnership Graduate Research Assistant Kim McLeod has been awarded a 2012 Research Training Award from WorkSafeBC. Her project, entitled Workplace Safety Regulatory Activities in British Columbia: The Effect of Prevention Activities on Workplace Injury Rates is part of her doctoral studies in the UBC School of Population and Public Health.
Read more about Kim’s work in WorkSafeBC’s Policy and Regulation Division e-Newsletter.
September 2012: We are pleased to welcome Billy Quirke as a new Partnership research coordinator. Billy will be evaluating the effectiveness of health and safety regulations.
We have now completed recruitment of patients and family members for our study regarding perspectives about workers’ compensation for mesothelioma. We are still recruiting physician participants for this study.
Thank you for your interest in this study. Our results will provide needed information to those involved in helping mesothelioma patients and their families make decisions around workers’ compensation.
For more information, please contact:
Suhail Marino, UBC Study Coordinator
604-822-8544
smarino@chspr.ubc.ca
View the results of our earlier research into mesothelioma compensation in BC.
The Partnership’s Gender, Sex and Work Injury, Illness and Disability operating grant has been successful in CIHR’s March operating grant competition.
Disparities exist in health outcomes and health-care access/utilization for women and men, yet little is known about differences in work injury and illness, workers’ compensation, or disability outcomes within the Canada context. Using a population of Canadian workers with a workers’ compensation claim, the purpose of this study is to investigate differences in workers’ compensation experiences by gender/sex for a) rates of work injury and illness for workers in the same occupation and industry, b) disability outcomes such as duration of claim for the same type of work injury or illness, and c) the amount and type of health care utilization and benefits for the same work injury or illness.
Although the rate of workplace injuries in Canada has been declining over the past two decades, some workers – older women in health care, for example – are much more vulnerable to serious injuries, Partnership researchers have found. Women 55 to 64 years old are three times more likely to experience a severe fall than women 15 to 24 years old. In addition, women working in health care are three to four times more likely to incur a serious injury as men in that field.
How do I love data… Let me count the ways: Using existing databases for work and health research
Conference presentation [1.2 MB]
Koehoorn M. Canadian Association for Research on Work and Health. Vancouver, BC; June 1-2, 2012.
Gender, sex and differences in disability duration for work‐related injury and illness
Conference presentation [338 KB]
Koehoorn M, Fan J, McLeod C. Canadian Association for Research on Work and Health. Vancouver, BC; June 1-2, 2012.
The Asbestos-related Research, Education and Advocacy Fund (AREA Fund) is hosting a walk in Powell River, BC on Sunday, June 10th to raise awareness of the hazards of asbestos and to honour victims of asbestos-related disease. Guests include Winnipeg MP and asbestos activist Pat Martin, MLA Nicholas Simons, Mayor Dave Formosa, union leaders, and individuals from the medical and research community.
More information and online registration.
Learn about the Partnership’s work on asbestosis surveillance and mesothelioma awareness and compensation.
Have you or a family member been diagnosed with mesothelioma? We are conducting a study to get patients’ and their families’ perspectives about workers’ compensation for mesothelioma. We would like to hear from you, whether you are pursuing workers’ compensation or not.
Our results will provide needed information to those involved in helping mesothelioma patients and their families make decisions around workers’ compensation.
There is a $100 honorarium for eligible participants.
Please contact us for more information:
Suhail Marino, UBC Study Coordinator
604-822-8544
smarino@chspr.ubc.ca
View the results of our earlier research into mesothelioma compensation in BC.
Risk of work injury before and after safe work practice certification for manual tree fallers in British Columbia, Canada
Research poster [803 KB]
Sarkany D, McLeod C, Davie H, Lyons K, Koehoorn M. International Commission on Occupational Health Congress 2012. Cancun, Mexico: March 18-23, 2012.
Age and gender correlates of serious work-related injuries in British Columbia, Canada
Conference presentation
McLeod CB, Fan J, Koehoorn M. International Congress on Occupational Health. Cancun, Mexico; March 18-23, 2012.
Visit Population Data BC’s web site for a description of their occupational data holdings.
Partnership activities in the past year have focused primarily on three broad research areas: cancer surveillance and compensation, work-related injuries, and the use of linked occupational health data.
This year has also brought considerable success to our trainees, who have published their Partnership-supported research in international journals, and have won awards at national conferences. In addition, we have been very active translating the results of our research to a variety of stakeholders through workshops, meetings, and the news media.
March 2011
The Partnership has been renewed for a 5-year term for a total of $1.3 million. This funding continues a research partnership that began in 2005 between WorkSafeBC (the Workers’ Compensation Board of BC) and the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research.
“In the past six years the Partnership has helped us establish, discover, explore and confirm information pertaining to work and health, by using innovative research methods, data linkage techniques, and approaches for addressing our questions. Their results have generated information that has been readily available to WorkSafeBC to solve identified issues and contribute to a better understanding of the causes of work-related diseases and injuries. The WorkSafeBC-CHSPR Partnership is looking ahead to another five years of exciting research work,” said Roberta Ellis, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, WorkSafeBC.
Partnership research addresses current and emerging issues of work-related health in British Columbia. The partnership is also the successful recipient of other competitive funding and has taken the lead in work-related health research by developing and promoting the use of routinely collected health and compensation data from multiple sources via Population Data BC.
Thursday, March 10, 2011, marked the annual Research Day for the WorkSafeBC-CHSPR Partnership. Held at WorkSafeBC’s Richmond offices, the Research Day was an excellent opportunity for the UBC-based researchers to share research successes and interact with over 100 WorkSafeBC staff. The depth of experience and knowledge of WorkSafeBC staff is invaluable in helping us refine our work, and helps ensure that research results will be relevant to policy and practice. The Partnership team also received numerous excellent suggestions for future research projects, which we look forward to investigating in future.
The research day began with an introduction by Roberta Ellis, WorkSafeBC’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs. This introduction was followed by a plenary session that highlighted the Partnership’s research successes over the past six years, showing how research has influenced occupational health and safety policies and programs. The Partnership team also presented on current research projects on the changing nature of work in the 24/7 environment, evaluating BC’s faller certification program, serious injuries in BC, and the burden of occupational lung disease.
Koehoorn M, McLeod C. Putting research to work: Past successes and future plans. Richmond,BC: WorkSafeBC-CHSPR Partnership Research Day’ March 10, 2011.
November 2010
Partnership activities in the past year have focused primarily on three broad research areas: work-related lung disease and cancer, work-related injuries, and the access, development, and linkage of administrative data for research purposes.
This year has also brought considerable success to our trainees, who have published their Partnership-supported research in international journals, and have won awards at national conferences. In addition, we have been very active translating the results of our research to a variety of stakeholders through workshops, meetings, and the news media.
In May 2010, the Partnership held a workshop to exchange knowledge and develop priorities around asbestos-related disease. The event brought together a diverse group of stakeholders interested in, or affected by, asbestos-related disease to share current research activity on asbestos-related disease, and to discuss ways of improving awareness and prevention of asbestos-related disease in BC. The workshop, held in Vancouver, was hosted by researchers from the Partnership and the UBC School of Environmental Health. The workshop was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
We are grateful to the speakers who have made their slides available.
This report provides a summary of the proceedings of the workshop, along with an itemized list of priorities for future actions relating to education, prevention, compensation, and research around asbestos-related disease.