Pennsylvania lawmakers designate Construction Opioid Awareness Week

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Dive Temporary:

• The Pennsylvania State Senate has formally designated the week of July 21-25 as “Construction Opioid Awareness Week,” in accordance with a July 17 information launch.
• The acknowledgement got here through Senate Decision 133, which was launched by State Sen. John I. Kane, a plumber and labor chief who’s minority chair of the state’s Labor & Trade Committee. Sen. Devlin Robinson, chair of the Labor & Trade Committee, and Sen. Tina Tartaglione additionally sponsored the measure.
• The decision encourages the development business in Pennsylvania to proceed selling consciousness of the risks of opioids and prescription drug abuse, with particular emphasis throughout the summer time months when building exercise is at its peak, in accordance with the information launch.

Dive Perception:

The hyperlink between opioids, and broader drug abuse, with the development business is effectively documented. Throughout the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, building and extraction jobs led all different occupations with 162.6 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 workers nationwide, in accordance with a 2023 report from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.

Nevertheless, the attention week comes with a silver lining, because the lawmakers cited a lower in drug overdose deaths nationwide from 110,037 in 2023 to 80,391 in 2024, per the information launch. 

“As somebody who spent a long time within the building trades, I’ve witnessed firsthand the devastating impression of opioid dependancy on our workforce,” Kane mentioned within the information launch. “I’ve misplaced pals, colleagues, and group members to this epidemic. This isn’t simply coverage for me — it’s private.”

Further calls to motion from the initiative embody:

• Advocating for maintaining naloxone on building websites and in contractor workplaces.
• Selling the 988 psychological well being and suicide disaster prevention hotline, which has helped over 14.5 million individuals since 2022.
• Distributing “Warn Me” stickers for employees’ insurance coverage playing cards to encourage healthcare suppliers to debate opioid points.
• Organizing “Drug Take Again” occasions to fight prescription drug abuse.

Alongside the laws, 15 organizations are collaborating to advertise consciousness all through the week, together with the Keystone Contractors Affiliation, Pennsylvania Constructing and Building Trades Council, Japanese Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters and the Common Constructing Contractors Affiliation, per the discharge.

The decision additionally acknowledged the efforts of organizations working to fight opioid abuse throughout the building business, together with the Keystone Contractors Affiliation, which offers free naloxone to any building firm in Pennsylvania that requests it.