The Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously has supported House Resolution 981, which declares the last full week in July Construction Opioid Awareness Week, according to www.constructiondive.com.
Several associations and labor organizations statewide partnered to launch the initiative, which could include holding safety talks about opioids, establishing drug take-back locations and distributing "Opioids — Warn me" stickers to employees to attach to their insurance cards to prompt health care professionals to consider alternative treatment plans.
More than 115 people in the U.S. die every day from opioid overdoses, and the class of prescription pain medications caused 64,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2016. The crisis is growing, and construction industry workers are particularly susceptible to it—in part because of the industry's aging workforce and the physically demanding nature of the job, which results in more workplace injuries that require medical intervention.
