Suicide in Construction
Suicide is an ongoing problem in construction. Most suicides in the UK are by men, and the majority of the construction work force are male. Construction is also a particularly tricky industry with workers often lone working and jumping from site to site it can be hard to build bonds with colleuges that keep us talking. In 2020, workers in construction were at some of the highest risk of suicide in the country, at 3.7 times higher than the national average (source: Office for National Statistics). Part of the reason for this is blamed on long hours and time away from family staying in hotels while working away from home. Culture plays another part in the issue as lots of men don't feel comfortable disclosing mental health issues to other people.
Our Approach
In September 2023, for World Suicide Prevention day we ran a week long campaign with the aims to educate and inform both our office staff, direct labour and sub contractor about the very real problem with suicide the sector expereinces. We ran 30 events which reached 452 people, the majority of which were supply chain partners, and they were given talks to bring home the facts and myths around suicide. Each of the talks was delivered by one of our Health and Safety team members who are trained in Mental Health.
The talks included an interactive element, each person recieved either a fact or a myth about suicide, they were then asked to read out this statment and the group was asked to decide if this was a fact or myth. This proved an effective way to challenge commanly heald misbeliefes about suicide and the people it effects.
Impacts
- 4 people have requested further information to share with their sports and social clubs.
- Dozens of people shared their stories about their personal experience of suicide.
- Several found the sessions a catalyst to start talking about being bereaved by suicide and a couple mentioned their feeling of guilt through loss to suicide which they felt they could now put that into perspective.
- During most sessions attendees were surprised by the prevalence of suicide within the construction industry and amongst the male population. There was a recognition that just simply talking or sharing their problems and feelings is an obvious help, and that we need to ask people to help them talk about their feelings.
- People mentioned having further conversations with people outside of the workplace, whether that be around suicide or bereavement to suicide.
- Nearly all seemed to feel it was a positive, several sites identified the conversation carrying on after the talk, one comment was that the talk was “Something we needed”.
- General issues picked up on for why people were having thoughts of suicide were, programme, finances, unachievable expectations, threats of losing work.
- People connected with the phrases for invitations such as “everyone will be better off without me” “there’s no point” etc resonated with what people had thought in there moments of sadness but also what they could relate to other people.
- People were grateful for the information, where to go for support was a key take away for attendees.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS