It was at a national company meeting in Miami that Skanska USA Building‘s Steve Clem heard of a program to save the lives of opioid abusers in the construction industry.

A manager in the construction giant’s Boston office talked about opioid addiction and how it affects the construction industry in that city. He also explained naloxone, a potentially life-saving drug that can reverse opioid overdoes if properly administered.

“For some reason it just resonated with me,” said Clem, who serves as a senior vice president for project planning services and sustainability in Skanska’s Portland office.

He brought his concern about opioid overdoses to the SafeBuild Alliance, a nonprofit based in Gresham that provides construction safety education and training. Clem serves on SafeBuild’s board.

SafeBuild Alliance soon launched a program in partnership with the Oregon Health Authority, which provides kits for administering the medication but not the drug itself. Member companies are responsible for supplying the naloxone, administered as a nasal spray, at a cost of about $75 per two-pack. SafeBuild Alliance conducts training with construction workers and works with a Multnomah County physician to provide naloxone, which is also known by the brand names Narcan and Evzio.

Clem said he’s not aware of any local incidents of jobsite opioid overdoses. Nevertheless, Skanska has placed the antidote at jobsites since last summer.

It makes sense to get ahead of the problem, said Karen Blythe, executive director of the SafeBuild Alliance.

“There have been overdose situations I’ve heard of — not necessarily in the Portland area — but we know there’s an opioid epidemic here. So it’s just a matter of time, and we want people to be aware and know how to respond,” Blythe said.

Besides Skanska, other major contractors including Mortenson Construction and Howard S. Wright have participated in the opioid overdose training program.

Opioid addiction has hit the construction industry particularly hard as doctors overprescribed the medications for muscular-skeletal injuries and chronic pain, which are common among construction workers, said Cal Beyer, director of risk management for Lakeside Industries in Issaquah, Washington.

Prescriptions for opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone surged in the U.S. Abusers found the drugs could be crushed and snorted.

The drugs have been a key element in the “deaths of despair” that have lowered life spans around the nation, Beyer said. “Opioids made the existing issue with mental health and suicides a perfect storm,” he said.

The stigma around mental health issues extended to opioids, while illegal drugs still attracted far more public attention, Beyer said. More recently, awareness has improved, leading many doctors to tighten their opioid prescription practices and to more treatment and prevention programs.

SafeBuild launched its program earlier this year, and the plan is to make it an ongoing effort. “We have every intention of providing more training in 2020 and to raise more awareness,” Blythe said.

Training materials tell responders to first check for breathing and attempt to awaken the person who may be overdosing. After that, they’re instructed to call 911, begin chest compressions and then use naloxone if the victim has not responded.

Blythe compared naloxone to the automated external defibrillator units that many workplaces keep on hand in case of heart attacks.

“It’s part of their first aid, like they would use an AED,” she said. “It’s part of their first aid training.”

Responders won’t do any harm by using naloxone, even if the person is not overdosing, said Clem. “It’s another tool,” he said.

Naloxone’s shelf life is about 18 months. Skanska will donate any unused doses to clinics, allowing them to use it before it expires, Clem said.

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When Sadie Wood found herself down to just one or two days of work a week after trying numerous jobs, she had finally had enough. There had to be another way forward and a better way to live, she thought.

A good friend suggested Wood try construction and the skilled trades. Her friend even told her where she could start: Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.

“I was struggling with my income and my work was really slow,” recounted Wood, 35, who lives in Gresham with her two daughters, ages 10 and 8. “Just a couple of months before this class started, a friend of mine who is amazing told me about it. She mentioned it to me and it was right what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it. I was ready.”

Wood signed up for OTI‘s Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC), which is offered quarterly through the program. Participants are introduced to numerous construction trades like welding, sheet metal fabrication, carpentry, plumbing, concrete and more.

“Every single person that is in our program is there because they’re making a major life change,” Pathways to Success manager Abby Bandurraga said. “Whatever it might be, there are so many different reasons. But, really, it’s not just a job; they’re changing their life in some way or they want something different for themselves, so I’d say that’s a huge motivator both in terms of how they do in class here as well as when they leave here.”

The most recent TACC started July 10 and runs through the end of August. Over the course of eight weeks, lives change, preconceptions about the trades melt away and those who graduate – over 1,200 women since the program’s inception in 2004 – are poised to begin a new chapter in life.

Amid a prominent shortage of skilled labor in the construction industry, the 91��Ƶ is taking a closer look at how OTI is making a difference with its Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class. In the first part of a three-part series, students and industry insiders speak about why they believe the TACC is a vital piece of the workforce development puzzle.

The attraction of training

John Hurd is the talent acquisition manager for Lakeside Industries, a heavy highway contractor with asphalt plants scattered around the Portland-metro area. Pre-apprenticeship programs like the one offered by OTI are popular, he said, because of how they prepare motivated students to enter the industry.

“These are folks who typically have gone out into the workforce, have held jobs that are not high-paying, don’t come with benefits, are not what they really want,” he said. “They feel disengaged, dissatisfied with what they’re doing and they’re looking to make a change.”

Pre-apprenticeship programs, Hurd continued, allow participants to brush up on their math skills, improve their physical fitness, become familiar with tools and acquire other knowledge essential in construction.

“It gives them exposure to a wide variety of trades so they can make an educated choice on what they want to do,” he said. “So, yeah, pre-apprenticeships are great because these are people who are investing in this career path.”

Like Wood, many of the students in this class are in their 30s or older. That’s typical for the TACC, Bandurraga said.

“There is a certain level of motivation because of the type of students,” she said. “They bring that attitude when they go out to apprenticeships or into careers. But we also teach them very industry-specific soft skills. We do that while educating them all the way, and it is a different caliber of entry-level worker.”

Wood’s biggest motivators are her daughters.

“I’m a single mother, and I want them to know as women they can support themselves doing whatever they want to do,” she said. “Honestly, it wasn’t really until last week that I realized – you know how they say you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it? I’m realizing that’s true. I’m capable of this and I want them to know it. I’m tired of living and barely making it and living off my family. I’d like to take care of my parents when they need it; that’s always been something I’ve wanted to do.”

Brianna “Brie” Joseph, 28, is also a TACC student. She left Pasadena, California, a decade ago to attend the University of Oregon and play varsity soccer. Once her stint as a Duck finished, however, she encountered difficulty forging ahead with a career. She was stuck serving burgers until recently.

“You know how life goes,” she said. “You just keep working.”

Then one of Joseph’s friends mentioned the possibility of signing up for the TACC. As Joseph pondered the idea, something clicked when she saw an ad for OTI on the side of a MAX light-rail train.

“I saw the lady in the hard hat and I thought, I can definitely see myself doing it,” Joseph said.

Word of mouth, Bandurraga said, is responsible for well over 50 percent of the students in any given TACC cohort. Others are referred from WorkSource Oregon and some even come from Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville.

A peek at potential careers

In the third week of the course, students really start to dive into the nuts and bolts of the various trades. The strict schedule follows industry standards for punctuality, safety drug testing and more.

“The beauty of the third week is you start seeing it coalesce into a group of trades workers,” Bandurraga said. “The first week they’re all wide-eyed, and the second week they’re a little more comfortable. And by the third week they realize, ‘OK, this is a community that’s here for me.’”

It’s also the point where preconceptions start to melt away and future paths become visible. For example, Wood’s initial interest in becoming an ironworker or carpenter quickly changed as she learned about new concepts. She calls herself an artist who loves to paint, so a recent visit to Portland’s Sheet Metal Institute and Local Union 16 was pivotal.

“I was like what can I do?” she said. “I talked to a carpenter and asked, ‘Would I do the same thing over and over?’ And I don’t want to do the same thing over and over. So when I found out sheet metal has a variety of stuff to do, I was like, I’m in.”

Joseph, too, is attracted to sheet metal work. She wishes only that she had been presented the possibility of a career in the trades sooner.

“If you start introducing people to trades in high school it’ll free up their mind to actually pursue what they’re passionate about,” she said.

Editor’s note: In the next story, scheduled to appear Aug. 20 in the 91��Ƶ, Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. officials will speak about the skills being taught and how they prepare students for careers in the trades. Industry professionals will add how contractors benefit by hiring pre-apprenticeship graduates.

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Lakeside Industries, Inc., is seeking sub contractors to bid on the Hillsboro Airport Runway 12-30 Threshold Rehab project. The bids are due June 28th – Lakeside is especially interested in collecting sub bids from DBE Contractors!

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Lakeside Industries is looking for sub contractors to bid on the WSDOT Project! Interstate bridge to 39th Street Vicinity Paving and Safety Project. The bids are due May 24 at 2:00pm. Please see today’s 91��Ƶ for more details.

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Metro, the Portland-area regional government, released recommendations Tuesday on how the region can handle the growth expected over the next 20 years and beyond. Significantly, Metro advises keeping intact the urban growth boundaries that govern where development can take place. In addition, Metro recommends maintaining existing roads bridges and sewers before building new ones.

After public hearings, the Metro Council will vote on the recommendations starting in December. Its decisions could be far-reaching, affecting everything from where people live to where they work, how they get around and where they go for recreation.

Today, the Daily Journal of Commerce looks at four areas that could be affected. We look at farmers’ thoughts about keeping the urban growth boundary intact. We examine how increasing density could spur development in Portland’s South Waterfront District. We focus on North Plains in a look at small-city expansion. And finally, we see if the business of road building could be disrupted by the recommendations.

The full list of recommendations and schedule of public hearings is at oregonmetro.gov. Search for “recommendations.”

A recommendation against adding new roads and bridges in the Portland-metro area may seem like a death blow to the companies that build and supply those new building projects. That is, if it wasn’t paired with a recommendation to properly maintain the existing system.

The Metro report includes both, though, stressing the importance of repair and maintenance in addition to cautioning against new road construction. If cities and counties follow that guidance, it actually could be good news for pavers, said Sandy Trainor, president of Kodiak Pacific Construction.

“As a contractor, to maintain or to build new all sounds good,” she said.

There’s no shortage of work that pavers could do, Trainor said. The first question, before new roads are built, is whether there will be money to keep up existing roads.

“What’s happening now is, over time, if you don’t take off part of the asphalt and repave it, you would perhaps have to take off more the next time,” Trainor said, and at an increasing cost. “At some point, you would have to take it all off and repair the subgrade.”

Chuck Gaskill, who manages the Portland office of Lakeside Industries, said he hadn’t seen the Metro report and couldn’t comment. As to whether he’d prefer building new roads or repaving existing ones, Gaskill said, “it probably makes no difference.”

While new roads may seem permanent, they represent only an initial investment in a system that gradually deteriorates. That investment must be accompanied by a long-term commitment to keep up what has been built, Trainor said.

Planners often understand that, she said, but the general public may not. And it’s hard to convince people to tax themselves more for roads that may appear to be in good condition.

“People need to be aware that if they don’t fund transportation and road repairs, eventually they will break down,” Trainor said. “Over time, (they) will need be repaired. And then it’s ‘Where do you get the money?’ ”

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