The June issue of Water Well Journal® contains a Safety Matters column on how the opioid crisis across the United States can increase workplace accidents.
In “Opioids and the Workplace,” columnist Alexandra Walsh begins with a sobering statistic — according to the National Safety Council, the odds of dying from opioid abuse are now greater than dying in a car crash.
Walsh explains how opioid use is a significant workplace issue and illustrates it with another statistic — the average number of days missed a year for most employees is 10.5, but 14.8 days for workers with a current substance use disorder, and 29 days for a worker with a pain medication use disorder. Other sobering statistics are provided from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The column concludes by going over workplace risk factors associated with opioid use and what employers and employees can do to solve the problem.
Read this article and more at WaterWellJournal.com.