Recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) findings have placed construction/extraction as the industry with the workforce at highest risk for suicide deaths. There are many industry dynamics that impact construction workers and place them at risk. And with suicide deaths at four times the national average, industry stakeholders need to explore how the industry can come together and reduce the industry risk factors that impact the workforce.
There are many elements of the construction industry that are unique. In the quest to eliminate suicide among the workforce, two of these elements play to the industry’s favor.
- Contractors have a built-in structure to address safety that can easily be expanded to incorporate mental wellness and suicide prevention. The industry culture embraces: “Zero Accidents” and “getting our workers home safely.” The expansion would promote: ”Zero Suicides” and “bringing our workers back to the project mentally equipped to do the job.”
- There is a well-defined structure among the construction performance chain, including supplier, subcontractor and general contractor. It is incumbent on the industry to integrate suicide prevention not only at the general contractor level, but down-chain into the workforces of the subcontractors and suppliers. Using the already-established safety structure that links the general contractor to their subcontractors and suppliers provides opportunities to educate the combined workforce.
There were several approaches and ideas to consider related to this topic. It will be important to buy into the concept that safety is not a proprietary issue, meaning that all things safety should generally be shared among companies, including mental health and suicide prevention. “We are in this together” is a concept that the entire contracting chain needs to embrace.
Contracts
Let’s start with the contractual relationships and one general contractor who has committed to integrating mental health and suicide prevention into their culture. As part of its required minimum safety requirements for down chain contractors mandates, the contractor offers an Employee Assistance Program, provides a general awareness of mental health issues to employees and suppliers, and establishes an employee on the project who is certified and trained in mental health first aid. This level of commitment sets a bar to which we all should aspire.
But contract terminology and safety policies must flow down chain and be implemented into field crews, which is where suicide prevention must take hold for the workforce to change the statistical data. Opportunities abound for starting the dialogue in the field. Contractors and their subcontractors (as well as suppliers in certain instances) typically have structured points of contact for safety programming on their projects.
Communication
As subcontractors and suppliers come on site, many contractors require participation in an onboarding process to present policies, procedures and job specifics relevant to safety on the job. This communication provides an initial contact point to promote the integration of mental wellness into the safety protocols. As the project progresses, there will be efforts including safety tailgate meetings, toolbox talks, Monday morning huddles and safety stand downs, which offer the chance to talk about suicide prevention and offer resources to the crews. For example, a contractor can invite a subcontractor’s safety professional to facilitate a large group toolbox talk on suicide prevention during the general contractor’s annual industry-wide safety week celebration. The event would draw subcontractors and general contractors.
As another example, a subcontractor group in Arizona was anxious to go visible on their jobsites regarding addressing this issue with their workers, and suggested inviting fellow subcontractors and general contractor peers to attend and participate. A creative approach was identified when a general contractor applied a “horse trade” offer to a large project subcontractor. The general contractor’s safety professional led a suicide prevention roundtable in trade for the host company’s safety team, presenting a training topic where the host company had greater experience and expertise. Both companies described this as a win-win.
The variety of simple/available tools to communicate mental wellness and suicide prevention among project crews is as broad as the problem itself. Wallet cards can be issued to all project workers containing warning signs and resource phone numbers such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1 (800) 273-825) and crisis support groups specific to the local community. Posters in the jobsite trailer can be a visible message to subcontractors and suppliers that this project cares about all workers who share the workspace. Project lunch and learns have been used effectively to draw subcontractors and suppliers together to discuss suicide prevention on their jobsites.
For example, a general contractor took this concept into the office environment, offering a “lunch and learn” to subcontractor partners. After this lunch and learn, the general contractor received a call the following day from a subcontractor requesting assistance with a suicidal employee. The lunch and learn had given subcontractors the resources to reach out in a crisis situation to aid their employee.
Contractors have used speakers from their EAP’s to facilitate these lunch and learns. Many subcontractors, vendors and general contractors publish newsletters distributed to their peers and industry partners. Incorporating materials on mental wellness and suicide prevention is a perfect fit for this means of communication among all levels of the construction chain.
The Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention provides many of the suggested tools noted in this article, as well as resource articles, contacts, planning tools, newsletters and event schedules.
