Growing calls for B.C. to have naloxone on construction sites

All construction sites in Ontario must have a naloxone kits on-site beginning Thursday.

The potentially life-saving tool temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, and the move comes after legislation was passed in Ontario to include them on sites as a prevention aid due to the growing number of deaths due to toxic drugs in that province.

And now, some industry leaders in B.C. are calling for the same requirements to be implemented on the west coast.

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Vancouver Island Construction Association CEO Rory Kumula believes it’s the right step forward.

“We are hearing that workers are dying from overdoses, and it’s happening at home and it’s after work hours,” he said.

“I’ve spent 25 years working in construction and being on construction sites, I really had never realized that there was this kind of problem.”

“This is a problem that happens in our communities. It’s not just construction workers, but certainly, we’re mindful that the demographic is similar. The toxicity of these drugs is exceptionally lethal. And we want to make every effort to make our workers aware that this is out there,” Kumula told CityNews.

The calls come after the BC Coroners Service last week announced 206 people in British Columbia died of “unregulated drugs” in April, while more than 12,000 people have died since the province’s public-health emergency was declared in 2016.

The service says in about 80 per cent of the deaths recorded, fentanyl is present, almost always in combination with other substances.

Data from Ontario’s Residential Construction Council reveals there were around 2,500 opioid-related deaths in that region between March 2020 and January 2021. Thirty per cent of those who died who were employed worked in the construction industry.

“I think in B.C., we’re at about 20 per cent down from 25. And I go back to the demographics — our demographics are males, 24 to 50, primarily who are employed, and if they’re employed, they have a high rate of working in construction or the transportation sector. So let’s be mindful, it’s not just construction,” Kumula said.