return to work the right way

Role of Mental Health Support in Returning to Work Programs

By: Tracy Bennett

​The correlation between physical and mental health is a topic worth discussing as the construction industry faces high suicide and substance use disorder rates. A recent article published by Conexpo-Con/Agg quoted Carol Nixon, PhD, research health scientist, NIOSH Spokane Mining Research Division.

She said: “Manual labor increases risk of work-related injuries and strain; and pain is the most common reason for receiving an opioid prescription. Opioids are extremely addictive. It can take just five days to become addicted.”
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“The high rates of substance use disorder and overdose in industries like construction and mining are not an indictment of the workers who take these jobs,” Nixon says. “Rather, this is an urgent call to identify workplace factors that may contribute to these devastating outcomes and how those may be modified to prevent illness, injury and death and promote employee health and well-being.”

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