Across Canada, workers' compensation boards share a common challenge: reducing preventable workplace injuries while improving outcomes for workers and employers.
Recognizing the value of collaboration in addressing occupational health and safety challenges shared across sectors and jurisdictions, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), in partnership with the WorkSafe Ontario Fund and the Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance (CISWP) have established a growing partnership focused on generating objective, real-world workplace data, advancing applied research, and building the evidence needed to better understand, predict, and prevent workplace injury and illness.
What makes this partnership unique is the way it brings together three complementary initiatives, DOSE, MOSAIC, and Safe WorkSITE, into a connected data foundation for injury prevention, return to work, and knowledge translation: grounded in an applied field research model with actual workers, actual worksites, and actual work conditions. Through workplace-based data collection, advanced analytics, worker capability assessments, and applied research, the collaboration is building a more complete understanding of the factors that contribute to workplace injury, disability, and successful return-to-work outcomes.
Each initiative captures a different piece of the picture. Delivered through deployment of mobile laboratories across Ontario, DOSE, the Database of Occupation-Specific Exposures, uses wearable sensors and research-grade instruments to measure what workers are exposed to over full shifts, including physical, cognitive, and work environmental demands measured at the same time, organized by occupation and measured at both job and task level. MOSAIC, the Multivariate Occupation-Specific AnthropometrIC database, is building an anthropometric and functional capacity database that describes the body dimensions and physical capabilities of Canada’s diverse workforce. Safe WorkSITE translates knowledge to data-driven, effective, practical and measurable practices and solutions. Together, they connect what a job demands, what workers are able to do, and the conditions in which the work takes place.
“Through initiatives such as DOSE, MOSAIC, and Safe WorkSITE, objective information is being collected directly from workers and workplaces rather than relying solely on historical claims data or self-reported measures.”, said Dr. Amin Yazdani, President and CEO of CISWP. “What is truly innovative is that we are measuring directly what has historically been estimated. That creates a data foundation that can serve Canadian workers, businesses, and workers’ compensation boards for years to come.”
“For WSIB, the value extends well beyond traditional research. The partnership is helping develop objective datasets, exposure profiles, and worker capability benchmarks that can support prevention strategies, policy development, claims adjudication, disability management, and return-to-work planning.” said Rodney Cook, Vice President Workplace Health and Safety Services, WSIB. “As evidence continues to grow, these resources may help improve consistency in decision-making, enhance capacity-to-demand matching, inform accommodation strategies, and support the development of more inclusive approaches to worker protection, equipment design, and workplace practices.”
The successful Ontario-based model has expanded into Saskatchewan through partnership with Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board and WorkSafe Saskatchewan, creating new opportunities for innovation, collaboration, and data-driven occupational health and safety solutions across Canada. “The SASK WORK initiative represents a unique opportunity to bring leading-edge research directly into Saskatchewan workplaces, helping us better understand the real-world demands workers face every day. Through this partnership, we are building the evidence needed to strengthen injury prevention efforts and support safer, healthier workplaces across our province.", said Kevin Mooney, Vice President, Prevention & Employer Services, Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board.
The practical value for workers’ compensation boards is broad. Objective, occupation-specific information on job demands and exposures, paired with benchmarks of workers’ functional capacity, gives claims adjudicators a consistent, evidence-informed reference for what a job actually requires, and it can be built into the training of new adjudicators. Disability management and return-to-work specialists can use the same information to match a worker’s current abilities to the real demands of a job and at the task level, identify suitable modified duties, and plan graduated returns that are safe and sustainable, lowering the risk of re-injury. For prevention, the data show where exposures are highest and which jobs and workers face the greatest risk, so that boards, employers, and health and safety professionals can direct resources where they will do the most good. Rather than waiting for problems to show up in claims experience, decisionmakers can act on objective evidence before injuries occur. Employers benefit too, with stronger evidence for job design, for equipment and personal protective equipment that fits a diverse workforce, and for accommodation decisions.
Because the data are collected with consistent methods and organized by occupation, their value grows with every worksite visited and every worker who takes part. As work changes, whether through new technologies, an aging workforce, or a more diverse labour force, the same datasets provide a baseline for tracking what is changing and why. This is what makes DOSE, MOSAIC, and Safe WorkSITE more than research projects: together they form lasting national infrastructure that Canadian workers, businesses, and workers’ compensation boards can keep building on as work evolves.
As workplace risks become increasingly complex, meaningful progress will require new ways of connecting research, data, technology, and practice. The growing partnership between WSIB and CISWP demonstrates the value of investing in shared capabilities that generate benefits beyond any single project or organization. Together, they are building the evidence, tools, and collaborative infrastructure needed to help reduce preventable workplace injuries, improve outcomes for workers and employers, and strengthen occupational health and safety across Ontario and beyond. “The more jurisdictions that contribute, the more valuable this foundation becomes for every worker and employer in Canada. Our goal is to generate evidence that helps prevent injuries before they happen and helps injured workers return to work safely and sustainably.” said Dr. Yazdani.