For HR executives, workplace safety is no longer just about slips, trips and falls. Today, one of the fastest-growing causes of death on the job is something many workplaces still don’t plan for: drug overdoses.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, workplace deaths due to unintentional overdose from the nonmedical use of drugs increased by almost 500% between 2012 and 2020. Diving deeper, certain industries experienced higher rates of death than the average, including construction, food service, mining, arts and entertainment and transportation and warehousing.
The trend has not been a blip. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show 464 workplace fatalities from unintentional overdoses in 2021, rising to 525 in 2022, the tenth consecutive annual increase and 512 in 2023 – significantly higher than a decade ago.
Zoom out and the picture is just as sobering. CDC provisional data show roughly 80,000 overdose deaths in 2024, with more than 54,000 involving opioids, even after a historic 27% decline from 2023. In many recent years, over 90% of overdose deaths have occurred among people 15–64—the core working-age population.
The good news: HR leaders have a proven tool to help prevent overdose deaths at work. Naloxone is a medication that can rapidly reverse opioid overdoses. Thanks in part to efforts making NARCAN® Nasal Spray, a naloxone nasal spray, available over-the-counter, naloxone is widely available for purchase. Greater accessibility and availability of naloxone is one of the key factors public health experts credit for the recent national decline in overdose deaths.
For employers, making naloxone accessible is emerging as a basic element of a modern safety program, akin to AEDs and first-aid kits.
For many HR departments, incorporating naloxone as part of an overall employee safety plan is simple.
1. Make overdose response part of your core safety policy
Most organizations have policies around medical emergencies, but very few explicitly address overdoses. HR can change that by formally recognizing the risk of overdoses, including naloxone administration as part of any standard emergency response just like CPR.
2. Put naloxone where emergencies happen—and train people to use it
Naloxone only works if it’s on site, easy to find and people know how to use it. Placing naloxone in emergency kits or next to standard safety equipment like defibrillators makes it easy for anyone responding to an incident to access this potentially life-saving treatment.
3. Normalize the use of naloxone to save lives.
HR departments can play a leading role in making carrying and being able to use naloxone a normal part of life. Developing substance use and recovery policy that emphasizes support, not punishment, can help employees feel safe seeking help before a crisis occurs and prepared to respond should it be needed. That can mean revisiting EAP offerings, leave policies and return-to-work programs so employees feel safe seeking help before a crisis occurs.
Through hard work and cooperation by a wide range of stakeholders, including naloxone manufacturers, governments, community organizations and employers, overdose deaths have started to decline nationally. But truth remains that they are at levels that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. HR executives, the question is no longer if this touches your organization, but whether you are prepared when it does.
By updating policies, stocking naloxone alongside other life-saving equipment and weaving overdose preparedness into your safety culture, HR leaders can transform a preventable tragedy into a survivable emergency and possibly give an employee a second chance at life.
Learn more about opioid poisoning risks in your workplace and how NARCAN® Nasal Spray can help save lives at NARCAN.com/workplace.