Of the 9.6 million workers who submitted to urine tests last year, 4 percent tested positive for an illicit substance, according to drug-testing analysis from Madison, New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics.

Over the past decade, drug use rates had been steadily declining, hitting a 10-year low of 3.5 percent in 2010 and 2011 before the rate began to climb again in 2012. The post-accident positivity rate has also increased 30 percent since 2011.

The increase in drug abuse by workers is not surprising in the context of the opioid epidemic sweeping the country.

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