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Building Trades advocates seek official recovery week to spotlight worker mental‑health and overdose prevention
Summary
The Building Trades Employers Association urged designation of an annual Building Trades Recovery Week to normalize help‑seeking, reduce stigma and expand workplace overdose prevention measures such as Narcan availability.
Boston — The Building Trades Employers Association (BTEA) asked the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight to designate an annual Building Trades Recovery Week, describing the initiative as a workplace‑driven campaign to confront high rates of overdose and suicide in the construction industry.
Warren Kramer, director of industry and government affairs for BTEA Northeast, said the campaign — launched in 2019 — has grown into a regional effort including job‑site stand‑downs, trainings and Narcan distribution. Kramer said construction workers face the highest overdose death rate of any industry and that the industry has implemented peer‑support and training programs at major sites.
The association emphasized this is not a new mandate or a funding request but a formal recognition of an established industry practice and partnership among contractors, unions and public‑health partners. Kramer noted a recent MGH site stand‑down that paused work for recovery and mental‑health programming involving hundreds of workers.
Ending — The committee heard the testimony and expressed appreciation for industry‑led prevention efforts; no committee vote or final action was recorded during the hearing.
