Occupational health equity scholarship has been growing over the past decade, including social-structural determinants of health research that centres the voices and experiences of historically marginalised communities. In our commentary, we focus on the intersection of work-related and non-work-related factors and how they impact the health of workers, their families and their communities through community-engaged research. Case studies include the implementation of mobile clinics that are developed alongside communities, community organising to examine and reduce health disparities among racially segregated workers, the development of research instruments and measures to study racism and discrimination, and a focus on how the distribution of employment opportunity is an important point of intervention to eliminate injury disparities.