The link between workplace injuries and opioid overdose deaths reveals a crisis affecting many workers. A recent report from DPH shares stark data showing patterns in overdose death by demographics, occupation, and other work-related factors. The report found that working-age Massachusetts residents who died between 2011 and 2020 were 35% more likely to have died of an opioid-related overdose if they had previously been injured at work.
To support employers in industries where risk of injury is high – with State Opioid Response (SOR) funding from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health – Health Resources in Action created BeHERE Workplace. Our website provides accessible information about how Massachusetts employers can prevent overdose and build a supportive workplace culture for people who use drugs, with histories of drug use, and in recovery (including abstinence-based recovery, medication-assisted treatment, etc.). In BeHERE Workplace, we work with partners to uplift ways in which employers, unions, employee assistance programs, and others play in preventing fatal opioid overdose through injury prevention and creating a work environment that encourages open communication to help remove the stigma surrounding substance use.
What can employers do?
- Develop, implement, and properly train workers on safety policies, practices, and procedures and expand safety protocols to prevent accidents and lower the risk of injury.
- Create a culture that values health, safety, and wellness, with policies and practices to match, when feasible.
- Encourage open communication about pain, injuries, and substance use to create a culture of support that helps reduce stigma; use inclusive, non-stigmatizing verbal and written language.
- Provide a living wage, and when possible, health insurance; refer employees to available state programs if employer-provided health insurance is not offered.
- Offer paid vacation and sick leave and encourage employees to take time off to recover when injured.
- Build a culture where reporting injury is normal, and there is no fear of retribution or job loss; up to seventy percent of workplace injuries aren’t reported at all.
- Provide Return-to-Work accommodations after injury, such as a modified schedule, modified job duties, modified methods for completing job duties, transitional work, or reassignment to an alternate position.
- Center voices of people who use drugs and those in recovery. Center Hispanic, Black non-Hispanic, and other communities of color who are most likely to work in industries with high risk of injury at work in program, policy, and culture change planning and outreach strategies.
- Create workplace overdose prevention, response and postvention plans like the guidance we’ve provided in this linked document.
- Train supervisors and staff about substance use, recovery, and recurrence of use; keep naloxone on-site and offer naloxone and rescue breathing training for all staff. HRiA offers opioid overdose rescue and prevention training, free of charge.
Note: These are high level recommendations. This is not a comprehensive list, nor are all recommendations applicable to every employer.
This animated video helps make these connections, and we have additional resources for employers on our recovery-supportive workplace page. To learn more about Health Resources in Action, what we do, and how we work to create equitable public health solutions, visit https://www.HRiA.org.