This year the IRSST participated in the work of the Sheffield Group, an international network of occupational health and safety (OHS) research facilities. The Institute was represented by its president-CEO, Lyne Sauvageau. The IRSST’s chief scientific officer, Alain Marchand, attended the 6th Research Conference held by PEROSH (Partnership for European Research in Occupational Safety and Health) following the Sheffield Group meeting.

Emerging issues and challenges on the Sheffield Group agenda

Lyne Sauvageau provided an overview of the IRSST’s main achievements in her presentation to members of the Sheffield Group. The strategic and scientific discussions held by Group members focused on several emerging OHS issues, including the integration of artificial intelligence, occupational psychological health and the loss of confidence in science in certain geopolitical contexts.

The president-CEO also highlighted the IRSST’s solid position on the international stage:

“I returned with the firm conviction that we are working on the right issues at the right time. We are well-positioned, our impact is tangible and we have a role to play beyond our borders.”

The discussions also shed light on several challenges faced by the member institutes and research centres, particularly those related to governance, funding and the integration of societal concerns into scientific priorities.

Despite very different national contexts, a shared determination to strengthen international collaborations emerged, as well as a growing recognition of the role that research institutes must play to facilitate the application of research results in workplaces.

Lyne Sauvageau, keynote speaker at the PEROSH conference

IRSST president-CEO Lyne Sauvageau was invited to give a keynote address at the PEROSH 6th Research Conference. She expressed her concerns about the erosion of scientific literacy and its potential repercussions on applied OHS research, particularly in the North American context. More specifically, she analyzed the occupational health and safety issues generated by the pressure placed on NIOSH, an organization that has published approximately a third of all peer-reviewed scientific articles on OHS in the last ten years.

“Today, we are facing a two-pronged situation: on the one hand, financial constraints and economic priorities require us to demonstrate that our organizations are optimizing the use of public funds at our disposal. On the other hand, we must reinforce public and stakeholder confidence in science and research. We may excel at what we do, and be efficient and politically relevant, but without the support of the public or of a broader public, our message may not be heard. Given this state of affairs, we must step up our international collaborations. In fact, while we are each addressing our national realities, we are all facing very similar challenges.”

Half a century serving OHS

This meeting marked the 50^th anniversary of the Sheffield Group and was held in Manchester, not far from Sheffield (the city where the group was founded), from September 6 to 9, 2025. To underscore the historic importance of this anniversary, the United Kingdom’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which hosted the event, organized a series of visits and activities highlighting the changes in working conditions, primarily through an immersion in British industrial history and early child labour legislation.

The IRSST within the Sheffield Group

In 1988, the IRSST joined an international association of OHS research facilities named the “Sheffield Group.” This group promotes the exchange of scientific information and the formation of research partnerships. The IRSST hosted the Group in 1993, 2012 and 2019.

Group members

• Austrian Social Insurance for Occupational Risks (AUVA), Austria
• Central Institute for Labour Protection - National Research Institute (CIOP-PIB), Poland 
• Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Germany    
• Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH), Finland
• Health and Safety Executive’s Laboratory (HSL), United Kingdom
• Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST), Canada 
• Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA), Germany
• Institute for Work & Health (IWH), Canada 
• Italian Workers Compensation Authority (INAIL), Italia 
• Israel Institute for Occupational Safety and Hygiene (IIOSH), Israël 
• National Institute of Occupational Health (STAMI), Norway
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), United States of Amercia 
• National Institute of Safety and Health at Work (INSST), Spain 
• National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC), Australia 
• National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NFA), Danemark 
• Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité (INRS), France 
• Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), The Netherlands  
• Centre universitaire de médecine générale et santé publique, Switzerland
• Workplace Saftey and Health Institute (WHSI), Singapor 
• Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA), South Korea
• National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health of Japan (JNIOSH), Japan