Combatting drug use and opioids in construction.

Byline: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF

By Nathan Jurowski

We are all waking up to the realities of the devastating effects that opioid abuse can have on employees and businesses in the construction industry. The statistics are overwhelming and offer only a glimpse into the damage done to our workers and their families. Fortunately, our industry and political leaders have begun to champion and carry out real plans to eliminate this scourge.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids killed nearly 48,000 people in 2017.[i] Given the nature of construction, injury rates in our industry are relatively high and opioids are commonly prescribed to treat workers' pain.[ii]

The statistics bear out similar results for illicit drug use: Of those working in all the major industry sectors, construction workers have the highest rates of heroin and methadone-related overdose deaths.[iii]

The toll this takes on people is seen in a higher rate of hospital days, ER visits, untreated depression or mental illnesses and the development of other costly physical-health problems. Increased workplace accidents result in increased worker's compensation and disability claims. Individual and team productivity is diminished, accompanied by tardiness and absences at the workplace.

Ultimately, turnover presents additional rehiring costs and the loss of experience and knowledge, training and continuity. Outside the personal effects and wilting productivity, all of this can harm morale and a company's reputation.

The figures on opioids have garnered quite a bit of public attention lately, resulting in congressional action. In late 2018, the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act was signed into law. Also known as the SUPPORT Act, this law was designed to promote prevention, treatment and recovery as well as enforcement. Of note, it will provide funding to research alternatives to addictive pain treatment, it will proscribe expanding telemedicine services to rural areas and will pay for early intervention for those identified as at-risk for opioid-use disorder.

At the state level, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and the Department of Justice have picked up the mantle through direct services and the Dose of Reality Wisconsin campaign.

Using public-awareness campaigns, Wisconsin Opioid Treatment Programs, direct collaborations with treatment providers, and grant funding...

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