Research Team

The partners for this study are: the Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders, University of Waterloo (CRE-MSD); and the Construction Safety Association of Ontario (CSAO).


From left to right, top row: Enzo Garritano, Marek Plawinski, Niki Carlan; bottom row: Jennifer Marshall, Phil Bigelow, Desre Kramer, Richard Wells, Peter Vi

Dr. Desre Kramer is the Associate Director of the Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD) at the University of Waterloo. She is also the Associate Director of the Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC) based at Cancer Care Ontario, in Toronto. She is an Assistant Professor, Research at the University of Waterloo. She is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Public and Occupational Health at Ryerson University, and an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Work & Health. Her research interests are in knowledge transfer, knowledge mobilization, social network analysis, qualitative research, diffusion of innovation, and workplace intervention research. For the last seven years she has led a research study in the diffusion of innovation to improve the health of construction workers. She has conducted research in the construction, transportation, electrical utilities and manufacturing sectors. She was a journalist for many years and has over 550 articles published on many subjects, in over 35 Canadian trade and commercial magazines.

Dr. Philip Bigelow is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Studies and Gerontology at the University of Waterloo and has a background in occupational epidemiology. He teaches epidemiology in the MPH program and provides research mentorship in the Collaborative PhD Program in Work and Health, a new inter-departmental program within the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. Dr. Bigelow holds an appointment at the Institute for Work and Health where he was a specialist in program evaluation and intervention studies prior to joining the University of Waterloo. He was a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Health at Colorado State University for over ten years where he conducted research in exposure assessment, occupational epidemiology, and construction health and safety. His current research interests include gaining an understanding of factors that improve safety performance of firms and improve the implementation and uptake of health and safety interventions. In addition to his extensive research experience, Dr. Bigelow has managed occupational health and safety programs in a variety of industries and is a Registered Occupational Hygienist. He has served on a number of advisory boards in the field of health and safety and has held leadership positions on the Threshold Limit Values Committee and is a current member. Dr. Bigelow is the co-principal investigator on the project and takes the lead on the evaluation and quantitative analysis.

Peter Vi, M.Sc. is an ergonomist with the Construction Safety Association of Ontario. He has extensive experience in monitoring and evaluating workplace hazards and interventions, and has been a RAC funded researcher for several studies. His main role in this study is to assist with organizing on-site data collection, and obtaining contractor and worker participation. He will also provide construction ergonomics expertise during all phases of the project, including the interpretation of interim and final results. Mr. Vi will provide supervision and mentorship over the field work conducted by the ergonomist with innovations in the construction sector, and will ensure that ergonomic principles are adhered in the analysis of the innovations. Along with Dr. Wells, he will conduct ergonomic evaluations of the identified innovations. He will also provide the research team with practical ergonomics expertise during the development of the full research proposal.

Enzo Garritano, P.Eng. is the Manager, Technical Services and Quality Assurance with the Construction Safety Association of Ontario (CSAO). In this capacity, Mr. Garritano oversees technical support as well as research activities for CSAO. He has extensive experience in the construction sector and will bring industry specific knowledge and experience to the project. He will work with Peter Vi in identifying and communicating with opinion leaders as well as other workers/workplaces involved in the project. He will be the major link to the CSAO’s network of 700 volunteers of management and worker representatives and trade representatives, and will facilitate the research team’s interaction with union locals.

Dr. Richard Wells is Director of the Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD). Dr. Wells is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo where he teaches and conducts research in ergonomics. He is an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Work and Health and has collaborated with scientists at the IWH as well as with professionals at CSAO. Dr. Wells is internationally known for his work in biomechanics and in workplace investigations of ergonomic interventions. His extensive expertise and experience in applied ergonomics is essential to the success of this research. He will work with Peter Vi in providing oversight in areas where expertise in ergonomics is required (development of the ergonomist’s training, evaluation of the innovations, interpretation of study results, etc.). He will also provide guidance in the development of ideas for furthering research in the diffusion of ergonomic innovations in construction.

Niki Carlan is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Waterloo completing her dissertation on the path from science to workplace change. She currently teaches in the Labour Studies Department at the University of Windsor. She holds an MES from York University and MA in Sociology from the University of Windsor. She will soon complete a diploma programme in Disability Prevention from the University of Sherbrooke. Her area of interest is knowledge transfer and workplace change. During the first three stages of this research, she established high credibility in the construction sector. She has published with the research team and independently about the relationship between work organization, specifically lean production and occupational health. She has conducted participatory action research with the Canadian Auto Workers and intends to continue to pursue qualitative research methods. Previously she chaired the Ontario Occupational Disease Panel, was a vice-chair at the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Tribunal, and was the executive director of the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers.

Marek Plawinski, BPHE, BSc, MSc has been working with the University of Waterloo for over a year providing ergonomic expertise to the research team. He has been involved with nearly all aspects of the research including: ergonomic innovation identification; communication with potential subject companies; data collection and analysis; and authorship. In addition to this work, he is the owner of an ergonomics and health consulting company called Nexus Ergonomics and Health and does additional consulting for the City of Toronto. He is currently working on a master of public health (MPH) with a focus on occupational hygiene at the University of Toronto.

Jennifer Marshall, M.Sc., CCPE, CK, has been working as an ergonomist at the University of Waterloo providing ergonomic expertise to the research team. She has also worked as a Project Manager and Ergonomist on the MSD prevention project in the transportation sector with CRE-MSD and THSAO. She has been responsible for completing detailed technical assessments and reports, designing and conducting studies to evaluate the effectiveness of innovations, and developing fact sheets for the prevention of MSDs in the Construction Sector. In addition to this work, she is the owner of an ergonomics and safety consulting company called Ergo Dynamics Solutions Inc.