Occupational Health Hazard Assessment and Management Research Project

We invite you to apply for a chance to take part in year two of a health and safety research project that has the potential to reduce occupational illness and disease rates in Ontario’s natural resources sector. This project will be led by Workplace Safety North (WSN) and is supported by their research partner, the Institute for Work and Health (IWH). The project is funded by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

Application Criteria

Participation Requirements:

1. Industry Participation: 
   • Applicants must represent workplaces within Ontario’s natural resources sector (e.g., mining activities, forestry activities) 
   • Have known or suspected occupational health hazards present in the workplace.
2. Commitment to Project Goals: 
   • Must commit designated staff member(s) (participant(s)) for upskilling programs. Select the level of intervention you would like to participate in. Note that participation selection is not a guarantee due to limited resources, and selection may be based on worker health risk, firm size, industry, commitment level, number of participants from the firm, etc.). See Section 4 for further details on each level of intervention.
     • eLearning
       • number of employees participating
     • Hands on training through the workshop
       • number of employees participating
     • WSN supported occupational qualitative health hazard inventory at the workplace
       • WSN Hands-on coaching and monitoring through practical application of quantitative risk assessment
3. Access and Involvement: 
   • For qualitative hazard inventory and quantitative risk assessment intervention levels (levels 2 and 3 of the project, respectively), the WSN mentor and firm participant must have access to on-site environments for baseline hazard assessments and on-going monitoring activities.
   • Must inform Joint Health and Safety Committees or Health and Safety Representative when monitoring takes place.
4. Data Gathering:  
   • Agree to provide anonymized pre- and post-intervention data (including exposure levels, competency assessments, monitoring outcomes etc.) to project funder. Note that this data will not affect firm premiums.