Items Tagged with 'Opioids'

Lexington, KY — The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center has issued a hazard alert advising employers on how they can help reduce unintentional drug overdoses in the workforce.

Boston — Construction and extraction workers in Massachusetts are six times more likely to suffer an opioid-related overdose death than workers in all other occupations, according to a recent report from the state’s Department of Public Health.

Silver Spring, MD — In an effort to raise awareness of opioid-related overdose deaths among construction workers, the Center for Construction Research and Training – also known as CPWR – has published a hazard alert and toolbox talk on the topic.

San Francisco — Despite a decrease in opioid use among people who have health insurance through their employer, large employers have experienced a sharp increase in costs for treating opioid addiction and overdoses among their workers, according to a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Cambridge, MA — A Workers Compensation Research Institute study of workers with low-back injuries shows those who receive longer-term prescriptions for opioid painkillers take significantly longer to return to work than those who are not prescribed opioids.

Employers “can and will be at the forefront of implementing pivotal solutions to prevent and treat opioid addictions,” one researcher testified during a joint hearing convened by two House subcommittees.

Chicago — Opioid-related overdoses claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 Midwest construction workers in 2015 – part of an opioid crisis that cost the region’s industry more than $5 billion in health care expenses and lost time and production, according to a recent report from the Midwest Economic Policy Institute.

Washington – The Department of Transportation will include four semi-synthetic opioids in its drug-testing program for DOT employees, according to a final rule published in the Nov. 13 Federal Register.

Washington – A Federal Interagency Working Group coordinated by the White House National Security Council has developed safety recommendations for first responders exposed to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid considered up to 50 times more potent than heroin.

Statistics show 75 percent of the 18- to 64-year-olds who have substance misuse disorders are in the workforce. As the struggles of addiction to opioid painkillers continue to affect worker safety and health, employers are being urged to take action.