Substance abuse holds many hostages in the trades. SAIT students aren’t immune.
Now, some want to see changes in the industry.
“I have had to use naloxone three or four times now, because someone overdosed on an opioid,” said Hadyn Bernard.
Bernard is a SAIT student studying for his Red Seal in the pipe trades. He said he has witnessed all sorts of drugs and alcohol being consumed on worksites. He’s heard of or watched people using speed, weed, cocaine, crack and fentanyl.
“I can write a bible on how many people I’ve seen under the influence,” said Bernard. “I can count on multiple dozens of hands.”
Substance use is a major safety issue in the construction industry. With the heavy machinery found on worksites, being under the influence can lead to serious injury — for both the operator and those around them.
Since 2016, men have accounted for 72 per cent of opioid deaths, according to the Government of Canada. Thirty to 50 per cent of deaths occurred among those employed in the trades.
Why? The federal government gives three reasons.
- Physically demanding work leads trade workers to use drugs for relaxation.
- Some trade workers self-medicate with drugs to cope with injury or pain.
- Many men avoid talking about drug use due to societal stigma.
Bernard now carries two or three kits of naloxone.
“Because it literally cannot kill you,” he said. “All it can do is save your life, so having two is better than having one and having three is better than two.”
Finding help for an addiction can be difficult.
Payton Baxter, a first-year pipe trades student at SAIT, suspects if she would have been fired if she had asked for support with addiction at her former job.
She said she thinks that some people hide their struggles just to keep going.
“They don’t want to be seen going to Alcoholics Anonymous,” Baxter said.
“They don’t want anybody to know.”
