Opinion | Mental health
Construction needs to get serious about suicides and giving the HSE more power is key
While fatal accidents and deaths from workplace illnesses remain too high, there has been genuine movement in the last decade to improve construction safety and reduce fatalities. Yet the suicide rate in our industry has gone in the opposite direction. The number of workers who find themselves in a place so dark and desperate that they are taking their own lives is a scandal.
JASON POULTER
Over 500 construction workers died as a result of suicide last year and rates are rising. The loneliest place in the world is a busy workplace where there is no one to talk to and that is often where construction workers find themselves.
Recent research by the Glasgow Caledonian University and the Lighthouse Club found that the suicide rate for construction workers in 2021– the latest figures – showed that there were 33.82 deaths per 100,000. This was a significant increase from 2015 when suicide deaths were 25.52 per 100,000.
To put these figures into context they are far higher than any other sector.
In recent years some larger projects have finally begun to take workers’ mental health seriously, with support for mental health first aiders and other initiatives.
These schemes work best when the support is provided by fellow workers, rather than a top down approach from management, which workers often find intimidating and a turn off.
However, if we are being honest, such enlightened schemes are few and far between and remain reactive rather than focusing on the cause.
The truth remains that most workers feel unable to raise mental health concerns because of the toxic macho culture that pervades our industry.
This is entwined with a fear that if you admit to a problem, you are likely to be given your cards and removed from site especially if you are officially self-employed.
As a first step, all employers, contractors and clients must be required to have mental health policies and provide non-judgemental mental health support, no matter how large or small the project.
All employers should be legally required to undertake regular mental health work-related risk assessments.
No doubt some employers will baulk at the prospect of this extra expenditure, citing their bottom line. The simple response is what price do they place on a life?
Finding a cure and providing assistance for workers suffering mental health trauma is a first step, but we need to go much further and look at prevention.
To do this successfully and really tackle construction suicides, the industry needs to change radically.
“The Health & Safety Executive should be given the power to investigate all workplace suicides, where work is a factor in someone taking their own lifeThere is no one single silver bullet which is going to tackle the problem. We are all different and have different triggers.
The government can also play its part. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) should be given the power to investigate all work-related suicides, where work is a factor in someone taking their own life.
Other European countries have such requirements but, as things currently stand, the HSE has no power to investigate such deaths or to examine what workplace issues were a factor in such a tragedy.
In reality it is not sufficient to give the HSE the power to investigate workplace suicides. It also needs to be given additional resources.
What is without doubt is that doing nothing is not an option. To do so is to condemn hundreds more workers to a needless and entirely preventable death.
- Jason Poulter is national officer for construction for the Unite trade union