A male working in the construction industry is 4 times more likely to take their life than the national average. How do we add to the mental burden?

45 people were killed I work related accidents in the Construction Industry in 22/23, which is double that of the next highest industry, and far too many. But is the bigger issue the amount people in our industry that took their own life? Which is more than 15 times that many.

Male construction workers in the UK are almost four times more likely to die by suicide than the national average and 700 people a year take their lives in construction-related suicides.

I haven’t always been the best at listening, or considering how I speak to others, or the most empathetic, but I am trying to get better, and I’m learning all the time.

As an industry I have felt for some time that we are good at causing people stress and anxiety………. After all we operate in a hyper competitive market, with wafer thin margins, outrageous risk transfer, and businesses failing all the time. Everything we build is completely bespoke, in a new location, in varying conditions, and with different teams. We must manage millions of variables and unknowns through design and delivery, and provide our customers with absolute defined outcomes, or we have failed

Our approach to helping with this for years has been to try and manage the symptoms and not the cause. We provide training in managing stress, mental health first aiders, phone numbers for counselling services, and forums for talking about our mental health openly. Don’t get me wrong, all of this is helpful, and any progress is good, but we are managing the symptoms we aren’t dealing with the causes. I think it’s akin to ramping up radio therapy for lung cancer patients, whilst keeping on giving them cigarettes.

I have decided this year to try and get to the bottom of what I / we do to contribute to the mental un-healthiness of my team, and to make any changes that I can to stop it. So, we have decided to hold a few round table dinners with our staff to discuss the matter, to see what people think across a wider range of disciplines and come up with some ideas.

We held our first one last month and here is some of what we have found, and we will build on in in the next sessions:

• A fundamental issue is that we must deal with so many variables daily. No project is the same, and no day on a project is the same.
• We must produce defined and non-moving outcomes (on time, high quality, on budget etc) whilst managing thousands of factors that we have no control over (suppliers, weather, traffic, workers, regulations, consultants etc). This causes stress, anxiety and a feeling of helplessness.
• Teams change with each new project, we must re-form and learn to work as a new team on each new project, with different working styles, personalities and skills.
• Time is everything, and deadlines cause stress, if we could give ourselves more time it would be much less pressure.
• Good people often suffer as externally it looks like they can deal with anything you throw at them, but internally they put themselves under intense pressure.

So why don’t we change it all, what are our constraints?

Projects are built on site, there needs to be a significant presence from most staff, we need to be present, the ability to work remotely and on flexible hours is entirely possible to some extent, but it is challenging in our industry, particularly with certain professions.

We are also resource constrained, there are more projects to be built than there are builders to build them, and we work in a low barrier to entry industry, meaning skills are often inconsistent.

Most importantly we work in a very competitive industry, life would be easier if we could pick and choose supply chains, take more time, and increase our resource, but we would be the best builders in the world that never built a project.

The interesting thing is that the factors that cause pressure and stress are often what make our industry worthwhile. We work in a varied environment, with lots of different and interesting people. We never get board as every day is different, we change peoples lives with the product we deliver, and our work can be an amazing source of pride when we do it well.

There are many workers in other industries that know that as soon as their job can be replaced by an offshore alternative, or an AI solution, they will be out of work, we certainly do not have to worry about that for some time.

So what can we change?

We can change the way we talk to each other, considering why something is or isn’t done, and trying to help, rather than getting angry.

We must be consistent in our expectations, so people know what is expected of them. It is much easier to manage your mental load if you know what people expect and that those expectations are reasonable so you can plan your work.

We must concentrate on building high performing teams who all work for each other. This doesn’t always mean the most experienced and cleverest people (although that helps) more importantly it means people with the right behaviours, who can work together, support each other, and communicate well. Nothing is better as a manager than if someone in your team is struggling, colleagues spot it, re-prioritise, dive on the problem, and help solve it for a great outcome. Especially when they do it without you having to ask them to.

Similarly, we can all get better at speaking up if we are under pressure or extreme stress and ask for help and give others the opportunity to do so if they can.

Asking for help or saying you are struggling does not mean you will be thought of negatively or as weak. Everyone has out of work pressures that we will never know about, and it is important not to feel judged and able to talk.

So, what have I learned so far?

We cannot change the industry overnight, nor do we need to, as the sources of stress are also sometimes what make it worthwhile. We can, however, can change our behaviours and how we treat each other, and that is how we make it better for everyone.