New survey to measure mental health and stress in construction

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The state of mental health in the construction industry, and the levels of stress its employees endure, is to be measured in an extensive new survey.

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is launching the sounding in response to recent figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) which found that men in the UK construction industry are almost four times more likely to take their own lives than men on average.

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Anyone currently working within the industry is being invited to complete the survey, which is now open.

The survey, which takes less than 10 minutes to complete, can be found here. 

The results will be analysed to establish which are the primary pressures on construction workers at different levels (e.g. director, site manager, site worker) and whether there are any other patterns across the responses.

The information is then likely to be used to:

• Develop recommendations for both the construction sector and policymakers to help reduce the pressures identified;
• Draw the above recommendations, if legislative change is required, into a policy paper to discuss with parliamentarians;
• Gather case study material to exemplify the primary issues raised in the survey and demonstrate the impact that these issues can have on individuals;
• Shape a detailed report outlining the findings, sharing the case studies and summarising any policy recommendations.

A CIOB report with the analysis of the survey is expected to be available later this year.

Professor Charles Egbu, president of the CIOB, said: “This is an incredibly important issue and one that aligns with the theme of my presidency. For over 20 years I’ve been looking into the area of mental health and wellbeing and there is much research out there which sets out the scale of the problem and shows that it is complex. My hope for the outcomes of the survey is that, although there’s no one solution that addresses these issues, we can gather data which will point to practical support and solutions that will work.”

All responses to the survey will be anonymous. However, there is the option of leaving an email address to be entered into a draw to win a £100 Amazon gift voucher.