Talking About the Opioid Crisis in Construction
Macenzie Rebelo
October 9, 2024
In May of 2024, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce declared a state of emergency due to the escalating substance abuse and overdose crisis in multiple municipalities. According to the OCC’s “Beyond Emergency Declarations: Charting Ontario’s Course Through the Substance Use and Overdose Crisis” report, Canada’s construction industry is one of the most impacted sectors with 31 percent of opioid-related deaths.
“The heavy reliance on opioids for pain management, combined with the stigma around mental health and lack of access to appropriate care, compounds the risk of dependency and overdose.” According to Public Health Ontario, “Nearly 60 percent of individuals in the construction industry were employed at the time of opioid toxicity death, compared to only 12 percent of those with no employment history in the construction industry.” The vast majority, 98 percent, of construction workers who died of an overdose were male. The industry is extremely male-dominated, which plays a factor in the lack of discourse about vulnerability when needing help.
Read more at CanadianContractor.ca
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