Naloxone cabinets available to SMART locals via SMOHIT

The Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMO­HIT) provides resources to protect union sheet metal workers on the job, at union halls and at training centers across the United States and Canada. SMO­HIT provided automatic external defibrillators (AED) and bleed kits to all locations five years ago, and continues to help members become certified in CPR.

Providing naloxone is no different.

Every SMART union hall and training center is eligible to receive one cabinet with four boxes, or eight doses, of naloxone, a synthetic, potent antagonist for opioid drugs, including morphine and fentanyl. Boxes contain detailed, illustrated instructions on how to administer the drug in case of suspected over­dose, which is as easy as spraying the dose inside the patient’s nose. The metal cabinets, offered to sheet metal union halls and training facilities as a member benefit, are not alarmed and are meant to be hung in highly visible areas, said Jeff Bradley, SMOHIT program administrator.

“We wanted to make it accessible to as many people as possible,” he said. “If they run out, they can always order more from us at no direct cost.”

Once hung on the wall at a training center or union hall, the cabinet’s doses are available for whoever needs them, whether the suspected overdose occurs inside a union building or elsewhere. Members can take a box if they’re concerned about a family member or take one to keep at the jobsite. If an opioid drug is in the medicine cabinet at their house, they should have naloxone on hand. Senior citizens are often prescribed naloxone in addition to any opioid medication in case of accidental overdose. With children, even teens, in the home, naloxone is a good thing to have on hand in case the unthinkable happens.

Opioid overdose can happen to anyone who is taking the medication or who purchases any kind of medi­cation from anywhere other than a licensed pharmacy, including social media and the internet. Workers who share medications or teenagers who buy anxiety medications from social media ads are all at risk — because counterfeit opioids look just like the real thing, said Chris Carlough, SMART director of wellness and mental health support.

“The cabinets and doses were purchased to help members save lives, inside and outside of union build­ings,” Bradley added. “An overdose can happen to anyone, anywhere, and it’s good to be prepared no matter the circumstances.”

Construction workers build their careers in dangerous situations. Even with every safety measure in place, injuries happen, and when they do, 55% of injured construc­tion workers receive a prescription opioid to manage the pain. Of those injured workers, 29% received two or more opioid prescriptions, according to a study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute.

The risk of overdose is a present danger, and that danger differs across populations and industries. Although the rate of overdose deaths in the United States decreased almost 27% from 2023 to 2024, union construction workers are 10 times more likely to develop an opioid use disorder if given a long-term prescription, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“The primary reason we’ve experi­enced a significant drop in opioid overdoses has been the presence of naloxone, so it’s vital we make sure it is visible and available throughout our industry,” Carlough said.