Workplace Overdose Information

Get Trained to Respond to an Overdose at Your Workplace

The Peterborough Overdose Prevention Program is offering FREE training for employees in workplaces that are concerned about responding to a possible onsite overdose. Explore the Question of Care Training Calendar for upcoming trainings and to register.

We do not offer individualized in-house trainings. Please join us at an upcoming session where staff can learn from meeting staff from other agencies in our community. This training is provided with the dedication of in-kind resources from PDS, Peterborough Public Health and PARN – Your Community AIDS Resource Network.

Should your organization carry naloxone in your First Aid kit?

Responding to an Opioid Overdose at Work

1. Have naloxone kitds on-site and ensure staff are trained to use them. 2. Establish an overdose prevention and response protocol. 3. Wear nitrile gloves and do not touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. 4. If you touch fentanyl immediatly wash the area with lots of water. Do not attempt to wash with alcohol based hand sanitizers as tehy do not remove opioids from the skin!

Develop policies and procedures to ensure employees are informed when they respond to an overdose

  • Developing an Opioid Overdose Response Protocol: Information for Workplaces (PDS, 2018)
  • Post this sign in your bathroom to remind staff, clients or patrons how to identify an overdose and that naloxone is available onsite.

 

Risks of responding to an Opioid Overdose at Work

The risk of inadvertent exposure to fentanyl for staff responding to an opioid overdose in their workplace is extremely low. Routine precautions and overdose prevention training are sufficient for managing the risk of unintended fentanyl exposure while responding.*

*Ministry of Health, British Columbia. (2017). Guidance statement regarding Personal Protective Equipment for Emergency Medical Services and Health Care Workers dealing with overdose victims. Retrieved from: https://www.fentanylsafety.com/wp/content/uploads/UpdatedGuidance-statement-PPE-EMS-HCW-Jan2017.pdf

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