Our January issue of Lifelines looked at the connection between workers being injured on the job and the increased risk for opioid use and abuse. Construction consistently ranks among the most dangerous occupations in the U.S., so it makes sense that construction laborers are more likely to be in pain – and seek relief from that pain – than the average employee. It’s been difficult to pin down the extent of this increased risk, however. In some of the areas that have been hit hardest by the opioid epidemic, that data is now emerging. Unfortunately, it paints a very troubling picture for the construction industry.
Joint analysis by the Ohio Department of Health and the Cleveland Plain Dealer found that construction workers in Ohio were seven times more likely to die of an opioid overdose than workers in other professions. Their risk was the highest of any occupation. Between 2010 and 2016, construction workers accounted for nearly one in seven fatal overdoses in the state of Ohio. These numbers aren’t unique to Ohio, either. In Barnstable county in Massachusetts – better known as the popular summer destination Cape Cod – a study of overdose deaths from 2004 to 2014 found that construction workers accounted for 25 percent of all fatal overdoses from prescription painkillers, heroin or fentanyl. This is despite the fact that constr...
Read morePosted on 01/04/2019 at 08:18 AM