Research Projuects Funded in 2002
Management, Work Organization, and Administration Effects on OH&S
Prevention of Work-Related Injuries
Prevention of Work-Related Diseases
Improvement in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation
Return to Work and Fair Compensation of Injured Workers
Management, Work Organization, and Administration Effects on OH&S
The Health and Safety Consequences of Underemployment and Contingent Work
The proposal will investigate the health consequences of two increasingly prevalent labour market experiences, unemployment and contingent work. As employment insecurity becomes an ever greater characteristic of the labour market, it becomes ever more crucial to determine the health consequences of this aspect of the work experience.
Results
Principal Investigator: Emile Tompa (Institute for Work and Health)
Co-Investigators: John Lavis, Cameron Mustard (Institute for Work and Health)
Two Year Funding: $13,024 (Co-funded with the Canadian Institutes for Health Research)
Incidence and Correlates of Lost-Time Claims among Adolescents and Young Adults in Ontario and British Columbia
This study aims to describe lost time workers' compensation claims by individual, work and community variables in Ontario and British Columbia from
1990-2001. Specifically, the study aims to:
- compare the injury experience of young workers 15-19 years of age vs. 20-24 years vs. adults, and examine the relative contribution of work and work and individual factors;
- describe geographic variation and possible association with community-level variables (such as industry, socio-economic status); and
- describe lost time claim rates over time (1990-2001 in Ontario and 1987-2001 in British Columbia) among young workers 15-24 years of age and assess whether trends are associated with workers’ compensation policy.
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Principal Investigator: F. Curtis Breslin (Institute for Work and Health)
Co-Investigators: Mieke Koehoorn (University of British Columbia); Cameron Mustard, Sheilah Hogg-Johnson (Institute for Work and Health)
Full Two-Year Grant: $147,844
Prevention of Work-Related Injuries
Heat Stress and Strain Measurement in Mining
Deep mining below 2000 metres increases working temperature and reduces the effectiveness of traditional controls for heat stress. Typical and alternative mining clothing will be tested for their contributions to heat stress.
Principal Investigator: Kenneth Sidney (Laurentian University)
Co-Investigator: John Petherick (Mining and Aggregates Safety and Health Association)
Development Grant: $29,925
Ergonomic and Hygiene Interventions to Improve the Health and Safety of Drywall Finishing Workers
The study aims to determine whether use of a pneumatic fi nishing system can reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries for drywall finishing workers, and whether a drywall sanding system can reduce the risk of dust exposure for drywall workers.
Results
Principal Investigator: Greg Smith (International Union of Painters & Allied Trades D.C. 46)
Co-Investigators: Hugh Laird (Interior Systems Contractors Association of Ontario); Peter Vi, Dru Sahai (Construction Safety Association of Ontario)
One Year Funding: $59,487
Prevention of Work-Related Diseases
Occupational Exposures to Chemical, Biological, and Physical Agents in Ontario Sawmills and Veneer/Plywood Plants
This development grant seeks to develop a full proposal to investigate industry-wide occupational exposures and resultant health effects in Ontario sawmills and veneer/plywood plants.To achieve that the investigators propose consultations with a wide representation of interested parties (stakeholders, employers, workers, unions, joint occupational health and safety committees), visits to a sample of various facilities in different regions and of different sizes, and walk-through surveys.
Principal Investigator: Dave Verma (McMaster University)
Co-Investigators: Murray Finkelstein (McMaster University); Cecil Demers, John Murray (Ontario Forestry Safe Workplace Association)
Development Grant: $30,000
Occupational Exposure to Ultrafine Particles and the Relationship to Early Indicators of Cardiopulmonary Effects
The proposal is to examine the possible association between occupational exposure to ultrafine particles and adverse health effects, especially cardiopulmonary diseases. The applicants will study the concentrations of ultrafine particles at different workplace settings, including welding, foundry, plastics, and asphalt fumes, and diesel exhaust, together with concentrations of irritant gases. At the same time, the workers will be examined for markers of inflammatory and coagula-tory processes. As a final outcome, the results of the study should help determine whether expo-sure to particulate matter in the workplace is related to increased morbidity from cardiopul-monary disease. The proposal also hopes to answer the question of which component or size fraction causes the most significant adverse effects, and whether these are exacerbated by concurrent exposure to irritant gases. The workplaces and work processes associated with the highest levels of ultrafine particle exposure will be identified.
Principal Investigator: James Purdham (University of Toronto)
Co-Investigators: Andrea Sass-Kortsak, Susan Tarlo, Gary Liss, Frances Silverman (University of Toronto)
Two Year Funding: $268,428
Paternal Exposure to Ionizing Radiation in Ontario Uranium Miners and Risk of Congenital Anomaly in Offspring: A Record Linkage Case Control Study
The proposal is to conduct a population-based record linkage case-control study to determine whether offspring of male Ontario uranium miners who are exposed to ionizing radiation are at increased risk of congenital anomaly. If so, to determine dose-response relationships between cumulative radiation dose and risk as well as identifying the specific pre-conception window of time in which paternal exposure is associated with increased congenital anomaly risk. The intent is to link existing radiation data from WSIB and the National Dose Registry with an existing file of Ontario congenital anomalies from 1979-1986 matched to normal births on 6 variables.
Results
Principal Investigator: Loraine Marrett (Cancer Care Ontario)
Co-Investigators: John McLaughlin (Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute); Douglas Chambers (SENES Consultants Ltd.)
Two Year Funding: $11,530 (co-funded with Canadian Institutes for Health Research)
Improvement in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation
Clinical Indicators for Tendon Injuries
New clinical technologies are now available to assess tendons but are of little help since they have not been validated against histological or mechanical data. The object of the research is to validate clinical indicators of tendonitis by obtaining clinical, histological, and mechanical data on tendonitis and correlating them with clinical tests. Clinicians would then be able to use these clinical tests in the assessment and management of workers with tendon injuries, and to help prevent tendon reinjury and chronicity.
Results
Principal Investigator: Guy Trudel (University of Ottawa)
Co-Investigators: Hans Unthoff, Martin Lecompte, Leonard Avruch (Ottawa Hospital General Campus); David Backman (University of Ottawa)
Two Year Funding: $272,504
The Impact of Waiting for Rotator Cuff Surgery
The proposal aims to define the impact of waiting for rotator cuff surgery including the disability experienced while waiting for the surgery, the effect of waiting on outcomes, the effect on ability to return to work, and the financial costs of waiting. The study would employ a prospective cohort design, with subjects recruited from the Hand and Upper Limb Centre of St. Joseph's Health Centre. The study will provide evidence to promote service reallocation decisions that benefit workers with rotator cuff injuries.
Principal Investigator: Joy MacDermid (McMaster University)
Co-Investigators: Ken Faber, Darren Drosdowech, Don Atkinson (St. Joseph's Health Centre)
Full Two-Year Grant: $137,865
Preventing Chronic Disability: A Subacute Cognitive-Behavioural Disability Management Program for Occupational Injuries of the Lower Back
The aim of this study is to investigate whether a 5-session Cognitive-Behavioural Disability Management Program (CBDMP) can return workers with sub-acute low-back pain (LBP) to work earlier, reduce sick absenteeism, reduce health care use, and improve quality of life.
Results
Principal Investigator: Dean Tripp (Queen’s University)
Co-Investigators: Joan Stevenson, Matthew Faris, Wilma Hopman (Queen’s University); Anne Symes, Nomusa Mngoma (Providence Continuing Care Centre)
Full Two-Year Grant: $191,200
Barriers to Diagnosis of Work-Related Asthma
Occupational asthma is the most common chronic occupational lung disease in Ontario. In occupational asthma, the best prognosis is associated with early diagnosis and removal from exposure to workplace sensitizers. However, the average delay in the medical diagnosis of occupational asthma is 2-3 years after the onset of asthma symptoms. Identifying some of the factors behind this delay will help direct intervention efforts to eliminate the delay and achieve better prognoses for occupational asthma sufferers.
Results
Principal Investigator: Susan Tarlo (University of Toronto)
Co-Investigators: Gary Liss (University of Toronto)
Two Year Funding: $117,000
Physician Occupational Disease Practice Survey
This study is to improve worker outcomes for two common occupational diseases, occupational contact dermatitis and occupational asthma. Existing evidence suggests that there is typically a lengthy period between onset of symptoms and diagnosis, and the longer this period the poorer outcome. The study will evaluate the practice patterns of community physicians who see the worker early, their perceived level of knowledge and adequacy of training with respect to these diseases, what barriers exist to recognizing and managing these diseases properly, the time constraints, and various other factors. It will do this through eight focus groups and a survey instrument developed from the focus group results. The ultimate aim of the study is to achieve earlier diagnosis and better treatment and management of these diseases.
Results
Principal Investigators: D. Linn Holness (St. Michael’s Hospital)
Co-Investigators: Susan Tarlo (St. Michael’s Hospital); Gary Liss, Frances Silverman (University of Toronto)
Full One-Year Grant: $73,762
The Validation of a Classification System for Work-Related Disorders of the Shoulder and Elbow
In this project, the applicants propose to further develop and study a classification system for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) of the shoulder and elbow that has been previously established with patients who consulted in a specialty clinic at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
Principal Investigator: Dorcas Beaton (St. Michael’s Hospital)
Co-Investigators: Robin Richards (Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre); Sheilah Hogg-Johnson (Institute for Work and Health)
Full Two-Year Grant: $159,556
The Development of a Reliable and Valid Measure of Acute and Chronic Stressors in Policing
The aim of this Development Grant proposal is to develop a short, psychometrically sound measure of acute and chronic stressors associated with policing.The newly developed measure can be used in future research to study the stress-health relationship, as well as the impact of coping resources and strategies to mitigate the negative impact of stress on health of police officers.The authors have proposed to use a two-stage process; that is, the use of focus groups to develop the Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ; Phase I), followed by the testing of the psychometric properties of the PSQ (Phase II).
Results
Principal Investigator: Donald McCreary (Defence Research and Development Canada)
Co-Investigators: Megan Thompson, Luigi Pasto (Defence Research and Development Canada)
Development Grant: $29,342
Defining the Role of Electrodiagnostic Testing in the Evaluation of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
The purpose of this research is to study the role of electrodiagnostic tests in the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome. The researchers hypothesize that, for cases in which the clinical probability of CTS, as established by the CTS-7, a measurement instrument used by primary care physicians, is either very high or very low, electro-diagnostic testing does not add significantly to decisions on evaluation and treatment, and so may not be required.
Principal Investigator: Brent Graham (University Health Network)
Co-Investigator: Peter Ashby (University Health Network)
Full Two-Year Grant: $45,472
Return to Work and Fair Compensation of Injured Workers
Relationship of Treatment-Related Factors to Sustained Vocationally Relevant Outcomes of Injured Workers with Chronic Pain Following Multidisciplinary Treatment
This study will examine the relationships among four separate sets of variables and the effect of these variable sets on vocational outcomes of workers with chronic pain disability. The study will be conducted with workers in the functional restoration ("pain management") program of Rehabilitation Solutions, a WSIB chronic pain specialty clinic. The four sets of variables are: demographic variables (age, gender); initial treatment status variables (worker's situation at the start of functional restoration program — length of time between injury and program, severity of pain, severity of emotional depression, severity of functional disability); treatment improvement variables (workers' emotional and functional status at the end of the program); and 'psychosocial' variables (nature of relationship with workplace environment, nature of experience with WSIB claims process, nature of RTW support from family physician and specialist, and nature of family/marital relations and support).
Principal Investigators: Douglas Saunders, Erika Runions (Toronto Western Hospital)
Co-Investigators: David Etlin (Toronto Western Hospital)
Full Two-Year Grant: $155,546
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