NIOSH Highlights Research, Resources Addressing Opioids in the Workplace

A new NIOSH web page collects resources intended to help workers, employers, and medical providers with issues related to opioids in the workplace. The page features education, training, research, and surveillance data from extramural researchers, including NIOSH-funded grantees and other partners who are working to address the opioid crisis. Featured resources include information on prescriptions and predictors of long-term opioid use in industrial workers, preventing opioid deaths in construction, and workplace policy changes to address complex substance abuse issues in the work force. Resources intended primarily for a healthcare audience include guidance on the evaluation and treatment of acutely injured workers and a webinar that covers best practices for treating patients experiencing pain while monitoring for and managing risks for opioid misuse and overdose.

View the new page on NIOSH’s website.

Related: The cover article of the November 2017 Synergist discusses the contributions the industrial hygiene community can make to help combat the opioid abuse epidemic. The article sparked discussion among readers, who wrote letters to the editor on the topics of the hierarchy of controls and exposed populations.

A separate feature article published in the December 2017 Synergist, “Protection in an Uncontrolled Environment,” covers emergency responders and opioids exposures.