agribusinessreview.comFEBRUARY 202319Cannabis, technology, and construction: A combination that most have not thought about. The truth of the matter is that legal cannabis is here to stay. It's not about if, it's about when the construction industry understands how to handle it. 35 states have legalized cannabis for medical use and 15 states have legalized it for recreational use and the list continues to grow. As they say, it's the elephant in the room. Some have been debating the effects of cannabis for years, but the statistics tell a consistent story.In a recent study, Remedy Review found that from 2015-2019,16 percent of employees were high at work and that 63 percent stated that they consumed cannabis at their lunch or break times ­ an increase of 60 percent.The path of impairment is fraught with dangerous consequences especially in safety-sensitive jobs. In just moments, even without the presence of an impairing substance, lives can be changed forever:· 1 in 5 deaths among workers occurs in the construction industry (OSHA)· In 2019, a total of 1,061 construction workers died on the job (BLS)· Each year, 9.7 of every 100,000 construction workers suffer a fatal injury which is the 4th highest rate of any industry (BLS)· Falls account for 33 percent of all construction deaths (BLS)· Injury rates in construction are 71 percent higher than injury rate across all industries (NIH)· Fatal construction injuries are estimated to cost the United States $5 billion each year (Midwest EPI)· The total annual cost of all construction injuries in the United States is more than $11 billion (NIH)Of course, cannabis was not the cause of all these injuries and deaths, but increased use among workers during the workday should raise some red flags. That's because in 2020, according to research by Quest Diagnostics, pre-employment marijuana positivity was 3.7 percent and post-accident was 6.4 percent in the general workforce. For context, in 2012 post-accident cannabis positivity was 2.4 percent --that's a 73 percent increase since Colorado legalized recreational cannabis. In 2020 positives for marijuana increased from 2.2 percent in 2019 to 2.5 percent in 2020.Until recently there have been few to no developments in testing equipment, methods, or standards to assist employers in handling the impacts of growing use of cannabis in the workplace. Don't give up, there is a technology that can help CANNABIS, TECHNOLOGY, AND CONSTRUCTIONBy Ron Adams, Vice President, Risk Management, Baker Roofing Company And Nina M. French, President, Employer + Law Enforcement Solutions, Hound Labs, Inc.Nina M. French insightscXo
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