CIOB: cut workplace stress to reduce construction suicides

CIOB has called for a reduction in workplace stress to reduce poor mental health in construction and cut the industry’s high suicide rate.

Responding to the Department of Health and Social Care’s call for evidence on its Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan, CIOB pointed to the need to understand the issues causing poor mental health.

It warned that as a male-dominated industry, mental health is still stigmatised in construction, meaning that many people stay silent. Its response to the call for evidence came ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September).

It builds on CIOB’s 2019 report, Understanding Mental Health in the Built Environment, which received over 2,000 responses from those working in the industry. The report highlighted that due to the nature of construction work, almost all respondents were facing long periods of time where they felt stressed. Some 26% of respondents had suicidal thoughts at least once over the previous year.

CIOB’s report echoed findings by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on construction suicides. It reported that more than 1,400 men in the industry died by suicide between 2011 and 2015.

If the tradition of not opening up does not change, CIOB warned, then the disturbing trend of men working in construction being three times more likely to die by suicide than the general population would continue.

Daisie Rees-Evans, policy officer at CIOB, said: “A strong focus on promoting wellbeing and health is needed at workplace and government levels to increase understanding of what mental health is, what good and poor mental health looks like and ways to manage mental wellbeing. This in turn will help to reduce the stigma in the industry and can have a positive impact on people seeking help and prevention.”

CIOB called for the government to work with industries that suffer from high rates of poor mental health and suicide to address the work-related factors before it’s too late.

Rees-Evans added: “Although many approaches to identifying and responding to signs of mental ill-health can be applied across the business sectors, hard-to-reach industries like construction that have complex supply chains and large numbers of self-employed people should receive additional focus.”

CIOB urged the government to adopt better data collection to understand levels of poor mental health, how companies are trying to reduce contributing issues, and what support they need at a company level.

The institute recommended better monitoring of interventions to understand best practices for implementing mental health prevention strategies.