WorkSafeBC seeking ideas to improve workplace health, safety

Innovation at Work research grants fund practical, innovative projects geared towards workplace safety in British Columbia. (Marcel Vander Wier/OHS Canada)

WorkSafeBC is seeking proposals for its Innovation at Work research grants.

For over 20 years, the organization’s research program has contributed to the development of scientific knowledge on emerging issues and making that knowledge available.

“The diverse ideas and questions that come to us through Innovation at Work help us to understand emerging issues in occupational health and safety,” says Lori Guiton, director of the policy, regulation and research division at WorkSafeBC. “We welcome proposals from any field, with a focus on workers and workplace health and safety.”

“When workplace experts and researchers come together, it can lead to really interesting collaborations. We have funded some truly innovative work, and it is inspiring to see how that drives real change in workplaces and for us in workers’ compensation.”

Innovation at Work grants were first offered in 2006, aimed at supporting practical, innovative projects geared toward finding solutions for pressing workplace health and safety needs. The maximum grant amount is $50,000 over one year.

Open to all Canadian residents, this funding:

• supports small-scale research projects that take novel approaches
• helps workplace-based researchers transform ideas into solutions
• encourages knowledge sharing with stakeholders
• promotes collaboration between workplace parties and research experts.

“We are always looking for new ways to support researchers,” says Deepani Weerapura, senior manager of research services at WorkSafeBC. “We are proud to play a key role in fostering research capacity in British Columbia and beyond, and to support the development of a dynamic and diverse research community.”

Projects funded through last year’s competition included an evaluation of cab-guard designs for log trucks, an investigation of how organizational climate and culture influence bullying and harassment for tradeswomen in B.C. and Alberta, as well as a study that is building and testing a system to alert drivers to the presence of an oncoming vehicle on resource roads.