OVERDOSE CRISIS HITS TRADES HARD
Officials trying to figure out why construction workers appear at high risk
Male construction workers have fallen victim to B.C.’s deadly overdose epidemic, prompting organizations representing them to brainstorm with health officials in Vancouver’s suburbs about how to better protect them.
“I was shocked to learn that there’s a high rate of opioid overdose in men from ages 19 to 59 who come from the trades,” said Tom Sigurdson of the B.C. Building Trades Council, an umbrella group representing a number of construction unions including those for electricians, ironworkers and plumbers.
“We need to reach out to our members and say, ‘You need to be aware this is a crisis in our industry.’”
A public state of emergency was declared in B.C. last year because of contaminated street drugs, which have led to more than 1,000 deaths across the province from January through August of this year — nearly double the number for the first eight months of 2016, according to recent statistics from the B.C. Coroners Service.
Fraser Health, which stretches from Burnaby to Hope, had 335 illicit drug overdose deaths as of Aug. 31, the highest of any health region. Three quarters of those deaths involved drugs laced with fentanyl.
Officials say a “disproportionate number” of those overdosing in the Fraser region are working-age men employed in the trades, although they did not provide exact numbers for this data, which was collected and analyzed by the health board itself.
Dr. Victoria Lee, Fraser’s chief medical health officer, said it isn’t clear whether more tradespeople are showing up in emergency rooms with overdoses because there are simply thousands of male construction workers in B.C. or because there are factors that are putting them at higher risk.
“I would guess that there is a bit of both, because within the trades (there are) increased risk factors such as injury, such as the transient nature of the work, such as some of the financial drains and pressures, as well as the age and demographics of the people that are involved,” she said in an interview this week.
People can often be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help, Lee said, but the most important message is to reinforce that someone with an addiction needs medical care and should never be treated instead by the criminal justice system.
“There is a stigma at a societal level, which is a long-term area that we need to work on,” she said. “I think from a societal perspective, it is also not easy for men to share their concerns or to be vulnerable. It is easier for people to self-medicate and I think that is what we often see.”
The drug use does not appear to be happening at work sites, since nearly three-quarters of overdose deaths in the Fraser region occur in homes, Lee said. The numbers are similar across the province, where so far this year almost 60 per cent of deaths were in homes, a quarter in hotels or shelters and less than five per cent at job sites, businesses or public buildings. The remaining 11 per cent of deaths were outdoors, according to the coroners service.
B.C. has tens of thousands of construction workers and officials are quick to say the number of overdose deaths equals a tiny percentage of those who work in the trades.
Still, the trend is worrying. So Fraser Health held a recent workshop attended by about a dozen unions, employers and organizations representing those in the trades.
“We need to reach out to our members and say, ‘You need to be aware this is a crisis in our industry.’” — TOM SIGURDSON B.C. BUILDING TRADES COUNCIL