04/28/2026
On April 28, we remember workers who have been killed, injured, or made ill because of their work, and we renew our commitment to prevention.
This includes harms that are often overlooked. In Ontario, a major report found that construction workers are disproportionately impacted by opioid toxicity deaths. These deaths reflect the realities of physically demanding work and injury, ongoing pain, mental health strain, precarious employment, stigma, barriers to care, and exposure to an increasingly toxic unregulated drug supply.
These harms do not exist in isolation. They sit at the intersection of workplace conditions, health systems, and drug-related harms. When workers are injured and left in pain without adequate supports, and when the unregulated drug supply becomes more toxic and unpredictable, the risks grow.
In British Columbia, research is also underway to better understand similar issues in the trades, supported by the BC Trades Council, focusing on substance use-related harm, worker well-being, treatment and support pathways, and evidence-based responses.
If we are serious about worker safety, health, and dignity, we cannot treat these deaths as separate from the conditions workers are living and labouring through.
Read the Ontario research: https://odprn.ca/research/publications/opioids-in-the-construction-industry/
Learn more about drug policy and labour: https://drugpolicy.ca/our-work/labour-and-drug-policy/
