Mental Health Monday: Opioid Crisis Impacts Construction

Opioid crisis impacts construction more than any other industry, report finds.

As seen in Daily Commercial  News by ConstructConnect

A28-year-old construction worker dies from a drug overdose over the May long weekend.

His tragic passing is sadly one more example of a growing crisis, as overdose deaths continue to climb dramatically in Ontario with recent studies showing it is impacting the construction workforce more than any other sector of the economy.

It is one of the main reasons why the Ontario Construction Consortium (OCC) launched The Other Pandemic campaign this past week to shine a light on the severity of the issue.

“We’ve got to do everything we can to get this message out, because I actually think this could help save some lives,” OCC executive director Phil Gillies told the Daily Commercial News.

A report by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, the office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario and Public Health Ontario released recently found 2,500 Ontarians died of drug overdoses in 2020, up from 1,500 in 2019, which is an increase of 60 per cent. Of the victims who were employed, 30 per cent were construction workers which is by far the most impacted industry. The report indicates at least 57 construction workers died of overdoses in Ontario last year.

Learn More ➡️ https://local1946.ca/

Categorised in: Blogs

This post was written by Blackburn Media