Added cost of development: substance abuse

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 10, 2001 by Parke Chapman

While brokers parlay square footage inside regal boardrooms, construction workers assemble the belly of the beast. Of these two ends of the industry spectrum, the latter demands coordination, dexterity and, above all, judgement.

Yet substance abuse among construction workers is alarmingly high. And as a potential hazard, the cost to the industry in worker's compensation and lost hours is both immense and still largely uncounted.

But the available data is in itself sobering.

New York State's Office of Alcoholism & Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) reports that construction workers have some of the highest rates of heavy alcohol and illicit drug use. The Department of Labor estimates that substance abuse costs employers in the United States more than $100 billion a year.

"We treat a lot of construction workers," said Dr. Robert Stockfish, medical director of the Areba Casriel Institute, a Manhattan-based alcohol and drug rehabilitation program. Stockfish has treated construction workers for alcohol, cocaine, crack, and heroin habits.

"The majority of the construction workers that I see are males, in that 18-34 year old range," said Stockfish, who noted that few of the construction firms that employed his patients require drug testing.

The industry draws heavily from a pool of 18-34 year old workers, a demographic already at a much higher risk for this type of behavior. It is also disproportionately male and geared towards a younger age bracket than most trades. According to virtually every study, illicit drug use declines with age, and males aged 18-24 are at the highest risk for substance abuse.

But it's not just the kids. The United States Department of Labor reports than 17.2 percent of construction supervisors use illegal drugs. For construction laborers, that number falls to 12.8 percent, though the "heavy use" of alcohol in this group is markedly higher, 19.9 percent. Their data also confirms that nearly 12 percent of full-time construction workers used illicit drugs in the past 30 days.

Despite the data, there is no index of drug- or alcohol-related accidents at construction sites, so it is difficult to judge whether the high percentage of substance-abusing workers are doing so on the job. A distinction is clearly needed and must be ascertained to understand the overall risk.

The Occupational Safety and Hazards Administration (OSHA) tracks workplace accidents but maintains no specific analysis or tally of these incidents. And the nature of the issue is touchy enough to ensure that firms go to great lengths to downplay them when they do happen.

Substance abuse is a staggering issue when potential occupational risks are considered. Especially today, as construction in New York City has risen almost 40 percent from 1999, according to the New York Building Congress. The Congress also reports that industry jobs peaked out at 120,000 last year.

Construction work demands rigorous attention and impeccable judgement -- or else life-threatening accidents can occur. The agility and coordination necessary to perform tasks is essential.

Nearly 40 percent of industrial fatalities are linked to alcohol use, according to the New York OASAS. While occupational hazards at a brokerage firm might constitute spilling coffee on a stack of contracts, at a construction site the threat is of being crushed or falling hundreds of feet.

Beyond the nationwide statistics, little data has been collected about substance abuse among New York's construction workers. The scope of the problem is therefore difficult to gauge on a local level. But several New York based construction firms deal with the problem head-on, as the financial toll of substance abuse is an issue that no firm can afford to ignore.

The EAP (Employee Assistance Program) is one element that these firms rely on to promote the well being of their workers. Though the function of EAPs vary between firm, they tend to offer counseling and other support networks for a number of problems.

A human resources manager from one Manhattan-based construction firm identified the tight market as reason enough to expand the benefits package for workers.

"The business is very competitive today. We need to keep workers in this market," said the source, who spoke on the condition that his name not be released.

He said that the demographic of "18-34 year old males" is in fact becoming "more diverse" in the construction industry.

"Safety is the most important thing for us. So we make a point of letting our employees know what is available to them, all of which is confidential," he said.

The owner of a 90-year-old construction firm credited the threat of drug testing as one deterrent in his company.

"Drugs are omnipresent, especially in this business," said Wayne Bellet, the owner of Bellet Construction, a New York based firm. "So that's why we insist that our workers take a drug test initially. The best way to sum up hiring in this business is caveat emptor." He added that "not enough was being done in the industry" to combat this issue. As for his own firm, Bellet said that "safety at all costs" has kept him in business for the past ninety years and remains a priority now.