The American Opioid Crisis has been declared a national public health emergency, but the U.S. construction industry does not seem ready to take action regarding its own significant role in the deadly epidemic.

The trillion-dollar industry has been hit harder than almost any other sector of the economy in a health crisis that takes nearly 100 American lives each day - but it has been largely silent, more concerned about perception than the number of Workers who are addicted to opioids.

Bisnow Reporters reached out to - and were rejected by - 17 construction companies and Workers at 27 construction sites nationwide.  Only two executives were willing to speak on the record.  Most explained away silence as not a sign of denial, but of fear over insurance hikes or not wanting to give the illusion they were operating “dirty” sites.

Nearly everyone agreed it was a problem with a solution bigger than one entity could handle, a problem they feel the industry needs to step up and tackle.

“This issue ‘has come home to our front doors,’” Suffolk CEO John Fish said. “Each ‘member of the community needs to see this is at their front door.’”

Boston-based Suffolk is one of the country’s largest construction firms, with an annual revenue of $3.3 billion, Fish said, and offices in Florida, California, New York and Texas.  Suffolk’s headquarters is steps away from a stretch of Boston known locally as “Methadone Mile.”

Every day, hundreds of people line the sidewalks of this neighborhood.  The area is known for a spate of methadone clinics steps away from the city’s pre-eminent bazaar for illicit drugs.

Some of those seeking treatment in Methadone Mile or overdosing across the country work in construction.

Developers and construction company owners, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Bisnow there is a problem in the industry, and it has made reliable labor an unattainable commodity across the country.

It is a case of all-hands-are-wanted-and-desperately-needed-on-deck in Massachusetts.  More than 2,000 people are estimated to have died from opioid-related causes in 2016, up from only 379 in 2000, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, a former Building Trades President and a recovering alcoholic who is 22 years sober, is a pivotal voice in helping Boston tackle the matter, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council No. 35 Director of Organizing John Doherty said: “Our groups inform each other of what is going on.  He has been a ‘great resource in terms of coming up with innovative ways in battling the epidemic and how we talk to Members.’”

For real change, efforts should come from more than local governments, he said.  It needs to come from everyone impacted by the epidemic, including developers, the silent investors funding projects, Union Leaders, Non-Union Labor or just a passerby noticing someone in need of help.

“The ‘more we can publicize this issue helps to change the stigma to get people to come out of their shells and speak about it,’” Fish said.

Construction-specific data in relation to the opioid crisis is limited, but there are some clues as to how dire it has become.

An estimated 15.1% of Construction Workers have engaged in illicit drug use, according to a report by Commercial Insurance Underwriter CNA.

This is second only to the Food Service Industry.

Others point to construction as being susceptible to the epidemic simply because of what gender is most prevalent in the construction workforce.

“The ‘primary’ workforce in construction is male and ‘they’re twice as common to abuse prescription drugs than females,’” said Eric Goplerud, who serves as Senior Vice President of the Department of Substance Abuse Mental Health and Criminal Justice Studies at NORC at the University of Chicago.

Construction Workers, by the physical nature of their jobs, often suffer the wear and tear on the body that, in recent history, would have led doctors to prescribe opioid pain medication in order to allow them to return to the work site.

But the short-term solution can have long-term ramifications, both personal and financial.

An Illinois-based construction firm of 150 Employees could face $57,387 in lost time, turnover and health care expenses from substance abuse, according to a calculator, created by the National Safety Council, NORC and Shatterstock, that allows employers to enter their industry, organization size and location to determine how much substance abuse might be costing their company.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: www.forbes.com/sites/bisnow/2017/10/26/the-silent-killer-on-the-job-site-inside-constructions-battle-with-opioids/#17f454e43744