The Research Advisory Council grew out of a 1998 task force report to the WSIB’s board of directors. The first grants were awarded in the fall of 1999. The main goal of the program was to provide sound, research-based knowledge that will help Ontario workplaces become safer and healthier. Two key, related strategies for achieving this goal were enhancing Ontario’s occupational health and safety (OH&S) research capability and promoting the transfer of research knowledge into the workplace. Over the life of the program 242 grants were completed and funded through the Research Advisory Council.
The WSIB’s former RAC research program consisted of two main components:
- Research project grants (provided through the annual Solutions for Workplace Change research grants competitions and occasional Bridging the Gap research grants competitions)
- Research centres (Operating Grants)
Research projects
Funded research projects
- Read descriptions of funded research projects (PDF)
Summaries of Completed Projects
- Read summaries of completed RAC-funded projects (PDF)
Research centres
The former RAC created and developed research centres in order to focus research effort on identified research priorities, and to build research capacity in these areas.
Funded by the WSIB, the RAC established two Centres of Research Expertise (CREs) in 2004:
- the Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Disease (CREOD), administered through the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital
- the Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD), administered through the University of Waterloo.
In 2009, the Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC) was also launched. The WSIB initially partnered with Cancer Care Ontario and the Canadian Cancer Society’s Ontario Division to create the centre
Have questions?
For more information, please contact the Operational Policy Branch at research_secretariat@wsib.on.ca.