Construction workers are six times as likely to die from suicide than incidents or falls onsite, the mental health charity Samaritans has informed an industry seminar.
At the seminar, which was hosted by the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA), Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and CIBSE Patrons, Samaritans stated that there must be more attention paid to depression and stress in the industry.
Will Skinner, regional partnerships officer for the charity, said: “With the amount of energy being put into managing physical risk, you have to question whether the industry is getting the health and safety balance right.”
According to figures from Samaritans, someone in the UK takes their own life every 90 minutes and there were 6,122 recorded deaths by suicide in the UK in 2014, of which 76% were men.
This compares with 1,775 people who died in traffic accidents. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 and the highest suicide rate is among males aged 45-59. The main risk factors include depression and mental illness – which can often be brought on by a stressful working environment, money worries, drugs and alcohol.
Skinner told the seminar that men from poorer economic backgrounds were also 10 times more likely to die by suicide than men who are financially better off.
ECA director of business policy Paul Reeve said that sustained progress with mental health would require challenges to the current industry culture that, too often “simply labels anyone with a mental health issue as weak”. He said “it won’t be easy, but we must challenge this sort of prejudice”.
The three industry bodies and Samaritans agreed that the seminar should be the start of a major initiative to address mental health issues across the building engineering sector, including raising awareness and providing specialist training as part of health & safety programmes.
