Voices
Instructor Training on Opioids and the Workplace, Prevention and Response in the Plumbing and Pipe-Fitting Industry: An Interview With Cheryl Ambrose Jeanette Zoeckler1
NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy 0(0) 1–5 ! The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/10482911211037018 journals.sagepub.com/home/new
and Jonathan Rosen2
Abstract Workers in the plumbing and pipe-fitting industry experience a wide variety of physical and emotional pain related to job hazards and lifestyle issues. Pain treatment and stress can lead to prescription or illicit substance use. The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe-Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada has taken on these issues by adapting training developed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Opioids and the Workplace, Prevention and Response Training. Under the leadership of Cheryl Ambrose, Health, Safety, and Environmental Administrator, the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe-Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada has added an instructor training course and is tailoring the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences curriculum to industry and union needs. Keywords opioids, substance use, health and safety, union, pipe fitters, plumbers, welders, suicide prevention, North America’s Building Trades Unions
Introduction Cheryl Ambrose, Health, Safety and Environmental Administrator for United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe-Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA) initiated two instructor trainings using the Opioids and the Workplace, Prevention and Response Training, prepared through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Worker Training Program. UA members and the entire construction industry have been profoundly impacted by the opioid crisis. Many of the participants in the instructor training shared stories about the impact of the opioid crisis on members, families, and communities. Trainers and speakers, some in long-term recovery themselves, put a human face on the issue of addiction and provided inspiration and hope, especially in cases where they had risen to leadership in the union. We interviewed Cheryl to learn how she gained a commitment from the union leadership to address these important but sometimes controversial problems. Cheryl also was able to recruit two UA instructors to participate in delivering the
instructor classes and be prepared to deliver them moving forward.
UA Members and Job Hazards Interviewer: Please tell me about your organization, including what types of workers you represent? Cheryl Ambrose: Our members cover it all in the piping trades. The short way of saying it is that they are journeyman and apprentices, plumbers, pipe fitters, sprinkler fitters, welders, and service technicians. We represent over 350,000 members across the United States and Canada.
1
State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA 2 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Schenectady, NY, USA Corresponding Author: Jeanette Zoeckler, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, 6712 Brooklawn Parkway Suite 204, Syracuse, NY 13211, USA. Email: zoecklej@upstate.edu