The Boston Globe reports according to a study (PDF) by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, “construction workers, farmers, fishermen, and others employed in workplaces where injury is common die of opioid overdoses at rates five or six times greater than the average worker.” Having little job security or sick pay, “often the case in high-injury occupations,” was “also linked to higher rates of overdose deaths.” Jodi Sugarman-Brozan, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, said, “There is a lot of pressure to work in pain,” adding that “reducing workplace injury is a key strategy to reduce opioid use and addiction.”
The Boston Herald, the Springfield (MA) Republican, the AP, and the Boston Business Journal.
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
