• Study of the relationship between exposure to risk factors
  and the effects on workers’ health. 
  • Development and validation of methods for measuring exposure
    to risk factors;
  • Development and validation of methods for measuring the
    effects on workers’ health;
  • Study of the exposure-effect relationship by following up on
    interventions
• Improvement of ergonomic intervention knowledge and
  practices: 
  • Modeling of the work activity;
  • Development, testing and evaluation of means of intervention;
  • Study of change processes in companies.
• Studies and surveillance tools:
  • Use of investigation data;
  • Studies on the extent of MSDs and occupational exposures;
  • Development and validation of investigation methods

Research implementation
The IRSST’s research is carried out in a complementary way in companies and laboratories. Research in companies is conducted in direct cooperation with the social partners in order to establish study and intervention methodologies that respond to the problems raised. The IRSST’s researchers have a laboratory at the leading edge of technology at their disposal. They thus have access to various instruments such as: optoelectronic movement measurement system, stadiometer, dynamometer, and an electromyographic measurement system.

Our partners
Our work is done in collaboration with researchers from different countries. In biomechanics, there is ongoing collaboration with researchers from the Netherlands and Germany. Close contacts have been established with researchers from the Francophonie. In this way, relationships are being developed with researchers from the Agence Nationale pour l’Amélioration des Conditions de travail (ANACT), the Institut national de recherche et de sécurité (INRS, France), and the Institut national français de recherche médicale (INSERM).

Many studies are being carried out in close collaboration with researchers from Québec universities such as the École Polytechnique de Montréal, the Université Laval, the Université de Sherbrooke, the École de technologie supérieure, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. There has also been some collaboration at the national level, mainly with Ontario. In addition, a multidisciplinary project on vibration and MSDs in mine vehicles was begun in 2004, with the help of a joint grant from the IRSST and the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB), in partnership with Laurentian University, Queen’s University, and the University of Western Ontario.

The IRSST has also begun a project, in partnership with Queen’s University, on postural stresses and pregnant women working at computers. 

Furthermore, no research would be possible without consultation with the companies involved and with occupational health and safety prevention associations. They in fact provide the sites for study and the necessary resources for data collection. Thanks to these companies, the research results can be applied and validated, and solutions provided for them.

Knowledge translation and outcomes
The research carried out in the MSD field is generating very concrete outcomes in workplaces, whether a better definition of the risks, a better understanding about their means of regulation, or the development of new ways of dealing with them.

From this perspective, the aim of the research is to expand knowledge and increase the pool of specialized researchers in this field. The results of the studies are widely published in research reports, theses and scientific journals. They are also disseminated at major scientific events.

Companies and occupational health and safety professionals also benefit, depending on the case, from guides or technical fact sheets resulting from this research and prepared for them.

Besides its research activities, the IRSST is carrying out certain short case studies, thus maintaining a direct link with workplaces. Companies appreciate this contribution to fields where specialized resources are sometimes rare.