Research Project Summary

Year Funded: 2011 Budget: $170,140.00 Funding Agency: Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario
Title: Improved methods for work injury surveillance in Ontario
Category: Occupational Disease, Injury and Health Services
Subcategory: Occupational Injury
Keywords: Work injury, surveillance, hour of work, shift work
Link to research website: www.iwh.on.ca

Issue:

Shift work – employment with anything other than a regular daytime work schedule – is a large part of work in the Canadian economy. About 25% of full-time workers aged 19-64 in Canada worked shifts in 2005. There is particularly strong evidence that night, evening, rotating, and irregular shifts are associated with an elevated risk of occupational injury. In Ontario, there is currently no adequate method for monitoring the differences in work injury risk according to the time period of work.

Objectives:

This project will address this gap in occupational health surveillance capacity by developing methods to estimate the association between the rate of work-related injury and time of injury for labour force participants in Ontario for the period 2004-2008.

Anticipated Results:

This study is designed to demonstrate the utility of an approach to the surveillance of work-related injury in relation to time of day of injury occurrence. The study methods will support the description of differences between occupations and industries in the risk of work injuries over the 24 hour clock. This information is a foundation for the identification of potential prevention efforts and will inform the design of more sophisticated etiologic research to understand the specific mechanisms of hazards associated with non-regular work hours.

Investigators:

Cameron A. Mustard (Institute for Work & Health)