A program developed on the Island to support and educate construction workers about substance use, mental health, and pain management has received national accolades.

The Vancouver Island Construction Association's (VICA) Tailgate Toolkit program has won the Canadian Construction Association’s (CCA) 2024 Community Award.

The award recognizes CCA member firms and those associated with them who have devoted effort to the betterment of their communities.

“To have the recognition of your peers which represent the demographic the Tailgate Toolkit is looking to reach, underlines the shift our industry has made in addressing substance use, mental health, and pain management in recent years,” VICA CEO Rory Kulmala said in a release.

The findings of a 2022 BC Coroners Service report suggest more than one-third—35%—of workers who died of illicit drug use during the review period between Aug. 1, 2017 and July 31, 2021, were employed in the trades, transport, or as equipment operators.

“The blue-collar workers: the demographics are near identical, you know, 25 to 52. Male. The majority of the people live on their own,” Kulmala says. “So there's a definition of people there that clearly has been linked to construction.”

‍'Celebration of the suffering' leads to partying, problems

In the Tailgate Toolkit video Building Hope: Substance Use in the Trades, worker Trevor says the industry has had a longstanding reward system he calls a “celebration of the suffering,” when workers reward themselves after toiling all day in a rainstorm or in the mud. 

“We’re proud of moving the concrete and lifting the heavy lumber. Good people go out and have a little fun,” he says. “They end up home alone and the intention was never to cut their life short, they just wanted to feel different or take a break or blow off some steam.”

Says worker Daniel: “Guys are proud of their work, wrapping it up with some drugs or some drinks is pretty normal.”

It's very much about the pain, and getting through it

That work-hard-play-hard attitude can be found in many sectors, Kulmala says, but one factor that is particularly prevalent in the construction industry is pain management. 

“You know, construction is a physically taxing job and if somebody gets injured, they can be relegated to pain medication,” he says. 

“And when they run out of that or access to, then they turn to, you know, illicit substances.”

In the video, worker Daniel says a lot of the people he’s met on job sites are working paycheque to paycheque, so missing time from work often is not an option.

“You get stuck in maybe a mindset or a way of thinking like ‘Well, if I take this substance, I’ll be able to get through the day,’” says Daniel.

Kulmala says just as it’s a priority for the industry to make the workplace safe, ensuring employees aren’t at risk when they’re off duty is paramount.

“This is really about making sure people go back to work, you know, when they go home and how they behave, and if they're having dependency issues, what kind of resources can they access to help them get better?”

Program has reached a lot of eyeballs and ears

Launched in 2019, the provincewide Tailgate Toolkit offers virtual and on-site Toolbox Talks, supervisor training, support groups, and resources for workers. 

“So on average, we go to a site, and there's anywhere from six to a dozen, to up to 20 workers,” Kulmala tells Capital Daily. He says the program has supported 65 events and has addressed 6K workers.

“We're actually putting a harm reduction coordinator in front of them on the job site where they have to be there,” he says. “And they listen, they hear, they all have a story to say, I know somebody who's died from this, and then they pay a little more attention.”

Kulmala says through the program, more than 8K resource packages—information kits containing regional information about the issues and where to go for help—along with 700 Naloxone kits, have been handed out. Last year, Victoria carpenters began carrying naloxone kits as part of a BC Construction Industry Rehab Plan (BCCIRP) initiative.

Reduce the stigma, educate the masses

“It's about reducing stigma, and it's providing our sector, a lens of what's happening socially, with the toxic drug supply,” he says.

There’s no hiding from the question of how to deal with the overdose crisis and the diverging opinions on how to battle it best—be that safe injection, safe supply, or other tactics, he says. “Our goal is to provide our workers and give them some level of awareness this, this is real.”

The program also helps train supervisors and to enhance access to harm reduction services within the construction industry. Kulmala says the program’s popularity within the industry—even outside VICA—is proof in the pudding they’re doing something right.

“It's those owners and these companies that are scheduling this talk is suggesting to us that the program is meaningful, the information is meaningful, that the sector itself is acknowledging that there is a problem out there and you know, never mind the rest of the sectors in the industries, what can we do to help?”

The first phase of the Tailgate Toolkit was funded by Island Health, which laid the foundation that allowed VICA to apply for funding to expand the program provincially. Kulmala says much of that was accomplished with the help of a steering committee, comprised of industry professionals from the construction sector, health-care professionals, and Indigenous Peoples from Victoria. 

Additionally, the Tailgate Toolkit is partnered with the Umbrella Society, a Victoria-based charity supporting individuals with substance use issues to deliver its Hammer Time support group.

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