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L&I SHARP presentation links higher overdose and suicide rates to specific occupations
Summary
SHARP program lead David Bonato told the advisory committee that Washington death-certificate data show higher rate ratios for drug-overdose deaths in construction, installation/maintenance/repair, farming, food preparation and transportation occupations, and urged employers to address workplace injury, chronic pain and psychosocial stressors.
David Bonato, who leads the agency's SHARP research program, told the Workers' Compensation Advisory Committee that state data from 2014—2023 show elevated drug-overdose death rates in several physically demanding occupations. He singled out construction, extraction, installation and maintenance, farming, food preparation and transportation and material-moving roles as having higher rate ratios compared with the statewide working population.
Bonato said the trends reflect multiple phases of the opioid crisis: early rises in prescription-opioid deaths, a later increase in heroin deaths, and the more recent sharp growth in…
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