New Document Highlights Initiatives Addressing Opioids in the Workplace

A new document published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Training Program (WTP) highlights examples of initiatives to prevent opioid misuse and promote recovery-friendly workplace programs. The document includes summaries of training programs as well as information about toolkits and other resources related to opioids in the workplace, including programs focused on recovery, peer support, and expanding access to mental health and substance use treatment. The initiatives featured in the document were developed by employers, unions, community-based organizations, and government agencies. WTP encourages employers and others to use this information to inform the development of their own initiatives to address aspects of dealing with opioids in the workplace. Organizations, public health officials, and researchers should also share lessons learned, an action WTP says can help stop the toll of the opioid epidemic on workers and communities.

The document can be freely downloaded as a PDF from WTP’s website along with several other training materials, resources, and tools on opioids and the workplace.

Related: “Confronting Two Crises,” a feature article authored by members of AIHA’s Opioids Working Group and published in the January 2021 Synergist focuses on how industrial hygienists can contribute to solving the combined crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid epidemic. The authors previously presented a session at AIHce EXP 2019 on emergency preparedness and training for workers at risk of exposure to opioids.