SESSION ONE

Wednesday, May 1, 2024
10:30am - 12:00pm ET

Marking International Workers' Day + important anniversaries; Sharing history, research & practice; Finding effective, sustainable solutions

May Day is celebrated as Labour Day around the world, and it was also the 1989 start date of OHCOW's first Occupational Hygienist, John Oudyk. This year we'll celebrate OHCOW (and John’s) 35th anniversary through the cross-sectional lens of Knowledge Activism and Workplace Mental Health and Injury Prevention, which we continue to champion.

A. Making a Difference: Knowledge Activism on a Community Scale

Learn about past and recent contributions of the United Steelworkers Union - all pivotal steps of worker knowledge mobilizing prevention progress, beginning with the Elliott Lake Wildcat strike 50 years ago, OHCOW's origins in the 80s, translating the Westray Mine Explosion into the Criminal Code in 2004 and facing the mental health and gender-based violence challenges we now recognize in workplaces today.

SPEAKER:Sylvia Boyce, United Steelworkers Canadian National Office, Health, Safety & Environment Department Leader

B. Knowledge Activism Research and Implications for Workplace Mental Health

Review important research on worker activist engagement and success and consider the implications in the context of worker (and activist) mental health.

SPEAKER: Dr. Alan Hall, Honorary Research Professor, Memorial University

C. Research into Practice: Applied Knowledge Activism and Tool Development

2024 is also the 15th anniversary of the Mental Injury Tool Group, which pioneered the recognition of stress and other harm-inducing factors as occupational hazards warranting assessment and elimination/control, developing an entire toolkit and fostering knowledge activation with its core element, a validated survey built on the Copenhagen psycho-social Questionnaire.

The MIT/StressAssess story is essentially a case study in applied knowledge activism in the form of tool development which has been a common thread of OHCOW's practice under John's leadership.

SPEAKER:  John Oudyk, MSc, CIH, ROH, Occupational Hygienist, OHCOW

For more Workplace Mental Health information and resources visit our Workplace Mental Health page or our StressAssess page.