Four years ago, I wrote about suicide in construction (AWCI’s Construction Dimensions, April 2020, page 17). I focused then on a lack of empathy as a potential suicide contributor.
“You’ve hit a hot button,” the president of a large AWCI member firm said. Albeit, he offered little on what to do about the problem.
The human resources director at an AWCI member contractor with 500 employees also admitted that her firm had just one arrangement to help people deal with stress and anxiety. “We have toolbox meetings,” she said.
Clearly, we have some work to do. Let’s unpack the data that, for a future article, will help us prepare ideas to share.
The State of Mental Health
The suicide rate among the U.S. working-age population has increased approximately 33% during the last two decades, according to 2021 data from National Vital Statistics System. Suicide rates also rose in the “construction and extraction” occupational group during this time frame.
The overall 2021 suicide rate per 100,000 in the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized working population was 32.0 among males and 8.0 among females, per NVSS data. In construction, they were higher: 56.0 for males and 10.4 for females.
A scholarly article, “A Review on the Prevalence of Poor Mental Health in the Construction Industry,” posted in February on the National Library of Medicine website (the world’s largest medical library) says that “building and construction is the industry with the third-highest stress levels and with high rates of mental health-related conditions.”
Another NLM article, “Stress, fear and anxiety among construction workers: a systematic review,” says that “substantial mental distress” runs as high as 50% among construction workers.
A 2020 British Columbia Building Trades survey found that 83% of construction workers “have experienced a mental health issue.”
Why?
Construction projects often face strict and unforgiving deadlines, requiring completion within the originally planned time frames and resources. Despite fatigue, many construction workers push through long hours, fearing job loss if they fall behind. The extended workdays, combined with the need to share space and tasks with other trades, can exacerbate their emotional stress.
Workers frequently face exposure to safety hazards, including severe heat and loud noises, affecting their physical and mental well-being.
They face unpredictable employment patterns. By nature, projects are temporary and dependent on market demands. The need to constantly adjust to changing work settings, teams and project standards can cause severe emotional strain.
Opioids are also a problem. Construction workers may rely on these drugs for pain management, but with long-term use they have been shown to contribute to mood disorders. According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study of 9,000 construction workers from 2011 to 2018, an estimated 1.2 million construction workers, or 10%, used prescription opioid analgesics annually.
“Overdose deaths on construction job sites increased nine-fold from 2011 to 2018, which was twice that of the increase observed in all industries combined,” BLS says.
I Want to Hear from You
McKinsey & Company research has found that employers often take a casual approach to their employees’ well-being. They focus on individual-level interventions that remediate symptoms, rather than resolve the causes of employee burnout, says the McKinsey article, “Reframing employee health: Moving beyond burnout to holistic health.”
While burnout, stress, anxiety and severe mental disorder are all different conditions, they’re the same when it comes to our need to do more to address them. Certainly, we must do more than give occasional toolbox talks. Right?
My research has uncovered several ideas for helping workers with severe mental disorder. But first, send me a direct message on LinkedIn with what you think. Let’s share ideas. Let’s work together to minimize this scourge of suicide in construction.
