Strategic planning process – Institutional restructuring

The IRSST continued the process of constructive, gradual, and voluntary change initiated in January 2020. The aim of this restructuring project was to address workplace needs in the most appropriate and promptest manner possible. The Institute thus adopted a new organizational structure characterized by the creation of three new divisions and the restructuring of four others.

Creation of the Research Fund Division

To clearly signal the importance of funding research, a new division named the Research Fund replaced the former Research and Expertise Division.

Another aspect of the Research Fund Division’s role involves the application of the Ethics Policy on Research Involving Humans, under the guidance of the IRSST’s Research Ethics Committee and the IRSST Policy on Integrity in research.

A Research Division

The new structure included creating a Research Division mandated specifically to develop an occupational health and safety observatory. The aim of this observatory is to become the OHS reference centre in Québec. It will use, analyze and visualize content from various administrative and population survey databases (Statistics Canada and the Institut de la statistique du Québec). The observatory also envisages integrating into its portfolio another type of data involving the measurements of exposure to contaminants in workplaces.

Communications, Strategic Watch and Knowledge Mobilization

The former Communications and Knowledge Transfer Division saw its mandate broadened and its team expanded. The newly named division is tasked with addressing workplace needs by monitoring, producing, and implementing knowledge transfer strategies, by supporting the application and uptake of nationally and internationally generated OHS knowledge by the different users, and by disseminating this knowledge.

New director of the Laboratory Division

Bruno Ponsard became the new director of the Laboratory Division. The IRSST’s laboratories produce analysis and calibration results to support industrial hygiene practice in Québec. They continue to play their role in supporting the application of the Regulation respecting occupational health and safety, but the director also envisages more active participation in scientific production and the realization of research projects with both internal and external partners.

A virtual institutional colloquium

The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented situation for both the general public and workplaces. On March 27, 2020, the IRSST launched a call for proposals for original research projects focused on developing solutions or advancing knowledge related to occupational health and safety (OHS) in a pandemic context. The preliminary results of the selected research projects were presented at the virtual institutional colloquium, held under the “La science au service des milieux du travail en période de crise sanitaire” [science serving workplaces during a health crisis] banner.

A new web site on disability and return to work

A research team funded by the IRSST, with the participation of the Réseau provincial de recherche en adaptation-réadaptation (REPAR), created a new web site on disability and return to work. The site is intended for the various stakeholders involved in rehabilitation and return to work, and compiles information aimed at equipping them to implement their processes and strategies.

Launch of two new research grant competitions

The Research Project Grants program is designed to support research on the IRSST’s priority subjects, innovative research subjects, or emerging occupational health and safety (OHS) problems. The maximum duration of each grant is three years, and it must be used to pay for the running expenses directly related to the execution of a research project.

The Research Program Grants program is designed to assist research teams in conducting ongoing, structuring programs on research themes that include medium- and long-term objectives. The mixed type of funding offered (operating funds and funds to carry out research projects) covers a five-year period. The research program proposed must focus on one of the IRSST’s priority subjects, an innovative research subject, or an emerging OHS problem. The program must be divided into complementary research orientations that tie in closely with the needs expressed by workplaces, proposed by the OHS network, or identified by researchers.

New edition of the book titled Hygiène du travail : du diagnostic à la maîtrise des facteurs de risque

This book presents the fundamental concepts that allow diagnoses to be made, ultimately to help protect workers’ health, safety and physical well-being. The new edition represented a major updating job coordinated by Brigitte Roberge, a former IRSST industrial hygienist, and required the input of over 60 specialists from various backgrounds. These included a number of IRSST researchers willing to tackle the challenge. The new edition provides even more answers to the needs of readers, trade apprentices, and experienced industrial hygiene professionals.