Organizational priority
Knowledge translation

Knowledge translation (KT), an increasingly widespread practice in the research community, is a process that the IRSST favours for promoting the appropriation of research results in the workplaces. Although the definition of KT does not make consensus, some researchers propose that this term be reconsidered. The IRSST gives it a comprehensive definition that includes both concepts of sharing and exchange of knowledge. Considered as an organizational priority, knowledge translation, an integral part of the IRSST’s research, is essential so that workplaces appropriate the results of the research in order for a real impact on workers’ health and safety to be achieved.

In themselves, the dissemination of research results and KT are insufficient for changing how things are done in workplaces. Some conditions must exist in order to ensure that the stakeholders (workers’ and employer associations, joint sector-based associations) and end-users (workers and employers) appropriate the research results and implement them in workplaces.

An overview of the scientific literature reveals, among other things, that the following conditions must exist in order to achieve an efficient knowledge translation:

• The importance of establishing personal contacts between researchers and stakeholders/end-users;
• The continuous involvement of the stakeholders, throughout the research process
• The existence of a link between the moment of availability of the research results and their use;
• The applicability of the results facilitates the actual appropriation by workplaces;The collaboration of the stakeholders/end-users to adapt and implement the research results.

Knowledge translation as an organizational priority
The IRSST’s 2006-2010 strategic plan Daring to change marked a turning point by making KT a strategic orientation. One aim of this plan was to systematically integrate KT and the promotion of results into all research activities. For KT to become an integral part of research, the IRSST established the Knowledge Transfer and Partner Relations Department. This team, whose main mandate is to promote the usefulness of research results in workplaces, has developed a framework of practice that promotes interaction between the researchers and stakeholders throughout the research process as well as the use of the results. This research and knowledge translation cycle is structured around the development and maintenance of networks that represent all the actors (researchers, partners, employer and workers’ associations, workplaces). The dynamics of this approach respects the principle of union-management cooperation that characterizes OHS activities in Quebec. This involvement of the stakeholders in all the research steps reinforces the idea that knowledge translation cannot be limited to the simple dissemination of results, once the research project has been completed. For the IRSST, research becomes particularly relevant when workplaces appropriate results.