Employees of the construction industry ranked second for drinking heavily, and fifth for drug abuse, says a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
On The Washington Post’s Wonkblog, drug policy reporter Christopher Ingraham writes that drug abuse, including alcohol consumption, costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars in lost productivity annually.
Data show that among the industries with the heaviest drinkers, miners topped the list, with 18% of miners reported “drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on five or more days in the past 30 days.” Construction workers followed closely at 17%.
Ingraham writes that variation among drug abuse and alcohol consumption across industries does not necessarily have a direct influence with the nature of work. Instead, it has more to do with the types of people who work in them.
“For instance, we know that men drink and do drugs more heavily than women,” he writes. “The researchers write that one reason miners drink so much is that miners tend to be young and male. Construction workers, on the other hand, showed abnormally high heavy drinking rates even after controlling for age and gender.”
The graphs below, by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, show the percentage of drug and alcohol abuse by job.
Percentage of employees who drink heavily:
Percentage of employees who use illicit drugs:
Read more on the latest report on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
More construction firms likely to perform stimulus-funded work in 2010 as funding expands beyond transportation programs
Stimulus funded infrastructure projects are saving and creating more direct construction jobs than initially estimated, according to a new analysis of federal data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. The analysis also found that more contractors are likely to perform stimulus funded work this year as work starts on many of the non-transportation projects funded in the initial package.
| Aug 11, 2010
Broadway-style theater headed to Kentucky
One of Kentucky's largest performing arts venues should open in 2011—that's when construction is expected to wrap up on Eastern Kentucky University's Business & Technology Center for Performing Arts. The 93,000-sf Broadway-caliber theater will seat 2,000 audience members and have a 60×24-foot stage proscenium and a fly loft.
| Aug 11, 2010
Citizenship building in Texas targets LEED Silver
The Department of Homeland Security's new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services facility in Irving, Texas, was designed by 4240 Architecture and developed by JDL Castle Corporation. The focal point of the two-story, 56,000-sf building is the double-height, glass-walled Ceremony Room where new citizens take the oath.
| Aug 11, 2010
Carpenters' union helping build its own headquarters
The New England Regional Council of Carpenters headquarters in Dorchester, Mass., is taking shape within a 1940s industrial building. The Building Team of ADD Inc., RDK Engineers, Suffolk Construction, and the carpenters' Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, is giving the old facility a modern makeover by converting the existing two-story structure into a three-story, 75,000-sf, LEED-certif...
| Aug 11, 2010
Wisconsin becomes the first state to require BIM on public projects
As of July 1, the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities will require all state projects with a total budget of $5 million or more and all new construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more to have their designs begin with a Building Information Model. The new guidelines and standards require A/E services in a design-bid-build project delivery format to use BIM and 3D software from initial ...
| Aug 11, 2010
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
| Aug 11, 2010
University of Florida's traditionally modern graduate building
The University of Florida's Hough Hall Graduate Studies Building was designed by Rowe Architects, Tampa, and Sasaki Associates, Boston, to blend with the school's traditional collegiate gothic architecture outside, but reflect a 21st-century education facility inside. Tallahassee-based Ajax Building Corporation is constructing the $19 million facility, which will have traditional exterior detai...