Study to identify 5,000 firms’ "leading organizational indicators"

One of the largest workplace prevention studies ever undertaken in Ontario is underway. Four health and safety associations, including Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS), are joining forces with the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), a research organization, to recruit 5,000 organizations to participate.

The “5,000 Firms Study,” as it’s informally known, focuses on understanding how organizations’ health, safety and disability policies and practices are related to injuries and illness. The scope includes every major sector in Ontario. More than 5,000 firms will be randomly selected from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)’s database.

“This is a groundbreaking project, which could potentially have huge implications for Ontario’s prevention system, and beyond,” says Dr. Ben Amick, IWH’s scientific director and the project lead. “A project of this magnitude is only possible with the strong commitment to safety and support for research across Ontario’s prevention system.”

What’s involved

After agreeing to participate, organizations will be asked to fill out a web-based questionnaire, with questions about their safety climate, health and safety management systems, joint health and safety committees, and organizational policies and practices. This survey will help to identify “leading organizational indicators.” A leading indicator provides a sense of an organization’s ongoing health and safety initiatives, as well as its potential for injuries or illnesses before they occur.

Each firm’s responses about its management or organizational safety measures will be linked to its claim rate records, with all information being maintained in strict confidence by the Institute. By making this linkage, the researchers will be able to see if relationships exist between specific measures and injury or illness claims.

“Leading indicators have been an important topic of discussion within the health and safety community for quite some time. However, the challenge has always been understanding which indicators are important to measure,” says Kiran Kapoor, manager of research & program evaluation at WSPS. “Through this research study, we have an opportunity to learn more about which leading indicators, or set of leading indicators, are predictive of future injuries and illnesses. It’s exciting to be involved in work that will fill this critical knowledge gap."

The intended result

At the end, the goal is to have a set of accurate leading indicators that all workplaces can use to assess their safety performance. Each participating organization will receive a report showing how it compares with other organizations in its sector. Collectively, the information will create a huge knowledge base for Ontario, which can be used as a benchmark by any organization.

“To make this research project a success, it is essential that workplaces see the value in participating and helping to build a benchmarking knowledge database that contains indicators relevant to workplaces and can be used by all sectors across Ontario,” says Kapoor. “In addition, the research results will identify opportunities to develop evidence-based measurement tools, products and services to further support Ontario workplaces in improving their occupational health and safety.”

For more on the study, contact Colette Severin, the project coordinator at IWH, at cseverin@iwh.on.ca or 416-927-2027, ext. 2126.