Opioids in the Home Building Industry: Making it Your Business
Opioid addiction is our nation’s leading public health crisis, and it affects people across all socioeconomic classes, races, genders and jobs. The home building industry is no exception:
- Overdoses left more than 100,000 Americans dead during the 12-month period from April 2020 to April 2021, a record for a 12-month period.
- Of the more than 93,000 Americans who died from drug-involved overdoses in 2020, nearly 70,000 died from opioid-involved overdoses driven by a proliferation of fentanyl.
- There are close to 200 fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses in the U.S. every day. That’s eight overdoses per hour, including at least two from workers in the home building industry.
- Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid (80 times more potent than Morphine) that since 2013 has driven the steep rise in opioid overdoses.
Sources: DrugAbuse.gov and NPR.

People who work in construction are significantly more likely to become addicted to opioids, like prescription painkillers, than are workers in the general population and are six times more likely to die as a result of overdose. The impact on a business can be significant and includes loss of productivity, healthcare expenses, absenteeism, turnover and much more.
NAHB is pleased to provide a private sector slate of helpful resources and possible solutions to stem the tide of the opioid epidemic’s reach into the home building industry. These tools will complement similar efforts by federal, state and local governments and healthcare organizations.
NAHB and its partners, Job-Site Safety Institute (JSI) and the Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP), are taking an innovative approach to addressing opioid use and misuse, viewing the problem holistically and creating solutions and educational resources that address intervention points across the spectrum of prevention, treatment, recovery and return-to-work. A proactive approach to this crisis with knowledge and without stigma is critical to the health of the industry and the people who work in it.
Together, we’re Making Opioids our Business.
Additional Resources
The opioid crisis is a top priority for federal policymakers and public health officials. Below are some national resources for employers and workers:
- What is Substance Abuse Treatment? A Booklet for Families
- Safe Treatment Locator – A free tool for finding qualified treatment facilities
- Informational guide on prescription drugs from Help.org
- SAMHSA Opioid Treatment Program Directory
- Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit
- Department of Health and Human Services 5-Point Strategy to Combat the Opioid Crisis
- MorePowerfulNC.org: Overpowering NC's Opioid Epidemic
mental wellbeing in the construction industry with an emphasis on helping association members support healthy work environments and be more proactive in looking at their own health and wellness. - NAHB has joined the Construction Alliance for Suicide Prevention in an effort to raise awareness of the prevalence of suicide in the construction industry. Use the Needs Analysis & Integration Checklist to evaluate your company’s preparedness for addressing mental health and suicide in the workplace, and be sure to review the 10 questions and 10 action steps companies can use to save lives.
- Resources from Shatterproof, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the U.S.
- Addiction treatment finder: https://www.treatmentatlas.org/
- Shatterproof's Just FIVE program, a series of five-minute learning experiences.
State Resources
Click on the link for your state below to access resources from local public health officials.