Recognized expertise: 20 years of research and results

Canada’s worker compensation boards and the association representing them obtained the IRSST’s collaboration to set up a the association representing them obtained the IRSST’s collaboration to set up a research committee. The IRSST’s chief executive officer, Jean Yves Savoie, was named head of this committee in recognition of his expertise and that of the organization he headed.

A group of toxicology experts formed at the IRSST conducted a study on the adjustment of the permissible exposure values (PEVs) for unusual work schedules. The group wrote a guide suggesting an applicable method for each of the 668 substances listed in the Regulation Respecting Occupational Health and Safety (ROHS). (RSST). Schedule I of the ROHS refers to this guide: […] an adjusted average exposure value (AAEV) must be established in accordance with the Guide to the adjustment of permissible exposure values for unusual work schedules, published by the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail.”

The Institute expended efforts to ensure that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research,, recently created by the federal government, would allocate a fair share of their funding programs to occupational health and safety.

International Conference on the Safety of Industrial Automated Systems (SIAS)

The Institute instigated and organized the first Internationational Conference on the Safety of Industrial Automated Systems (SIAS), which opened its doors to researchers and designers. The challenges that automation poses to worker safety were sufficiently important to induce the IRSST to hold this event, where knowledge was pooled and stock taken of the progress made in the area of machine safety.