National Safety Council Releases New Employer Opioid Toolkit for Worker Safety NSC and launch partner, Stericycle, assembles resources for opioid epidemic after survey shows that 83 percent of employers are extremely unprepared to deal with employee opioid misuse. Sep 20, 2019 This week, NSC unveiled a new toolkit employers can use to address the national opioid crisis at large. After surveys showed employers are ill-prepared to help their employees with opioid abuse, the NSC sees this toolkit as an immediate workplace necessity. NSC called on all employers to equip their workplace first aid kits with naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, provide supervisor education around opioid misuse, and include access to treatment options in their Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). These elements support a drug-free workplace policy, and with high volumes of working individuals struggling with opioid addictions, they prove important. NSC’s free Opioids at Work Employer Toolkit is the first of its kind. The Council partnered with Stericycle to fund and design the kit, and the focus is on safety, information, and resources for four groups found in a typical workplace setting: supervisors, human resource (HR) professionals, safety professionals, and employees. Opioids have proven time and time again to be a kind of silent threat—many individuals struggle with addiction, but they can often function and go to work. This means that it is not uncommon for a working individual to be struggling with a dangerous opioid addiction without people knowing. The recent NSC survey indicated that 75 percent of participants have been directly impacted by opioid misuse, but only 17 percent feel extremely well prepared to address it. Let's block ads! (Why?)