BOSTON (AP) — A group representing union contractors and subcontractors is sounding the alarm about opioid addiction in the Massachusetts construction industry.
The Building Trades Employers’ Association is opening a weeklong conference in Boston on Monday.
Mayor Marty Walsh and former Boston Celtics player Chris Herren are scheduled to give the conference’s opening remarks. Both have spoken publicly about their past substance abuse problems.
The conference closes Friday with a moment of silence at Boston construction sites. Organizers also want overdose reversal medication to be provided at all job sites.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in a report last year, found construction workers represented roughly 25% of fatal opioid overdoses among Massachusetts workers from 2011 to 2015. They’re also six times more likely to fatally overdose on opioids than other workers.
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