FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Colorado. December 7, 2020. Around the world, the construction industry often has high rates of suicide. This trend is not surprising given that construction is a male-dominated field and men make up the majority of suicide deaths. Additionally, workers in construction experience many risk factors for suicide including chronic pain, sleep disruption and high levels of stress. Today, United Suicide Survivors International in partnership with Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas launch a website highlighting global resources to help companies, professional associations and construction leaders take steps to prevent suicide, promote wellbeing, and offer support to workers bereaved by suicide: https://www.constructionworkingminds.org/.
“All of us have an opportunity to make suicide prevention a priority in the construction industry by normalizing conversations about mental health. We must advocate for an industry where people build meaningful relationships, feel a sense of belonging, and take care of one another. Our influence will impact countless lives and allow our people to bring their best self to work every day,” said Jerry Shupe, Corporate Director of Safety and Health for Hensel Phelps.
The original website (English only) was established in 2015 and underwritten by RK Industries. Today, new versions of the website are being launched in following languages:
Homepage for Mandarin version of website
In addition to these countries, supplementary country-specific resources and culturally-specific content are offered for Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland, Chile and Belgium.
“We have found that our investment in mental health in the workplace since 2014 was a wise investment during this unforeseen and prolonged pandemic," said Jon Kinning, Executive Vice President for RK Industries in Denver, Colorado and initial investor in the Construction Working Minds initiative. "Having a culture that is open to helping our employees deal with the stresses of not only work-life, but home-life has been a godsend for RK. We are very proud of our commitment to this effort.”
“This is the first global workplace suicide prevention initiative,” said Sally Spencer-Thomas. “Knowing that construction workers all over the world are facing hard times, the resources shared here should have a significant impact on their wellbeing.”
Resources included support construction workers who are depressed, stressed or suicidal as well as coworkers who are worried about someone. The content is also organized to guide safety managers and company or union leaders who are looking to build suicide prevention programs for their teams.
“In all developed countries where research has been done, blue-collar construction workers are at higher risk of suicide than other employed men,” said Jorgen Gullestrup, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (Queensland & Northern Territory) of MATES in Construction. “In Australia six times more workers die by suicide than workplace accidents. Suicide is the tip of the iceberg, many more workers attempt suicide, have suicide ideation, experience diagnosable mental health conditions. The sum of this pain is beyond imagination. How the industry tackles this problem will in part be the yardstick by which future generations of industry leaders and workers will judge us by.”
Knowing many companies and professional associations come to the urgency of suicide prevention after experiencing a loss by suicide, resources also exist to guide leaders through what is known as suicide “postvention” – how to help workers with the grief and trauma that often follows a suicide death.
“We have been advancing suicide prevention and mental health since 2013 to our international membership,” said Chris Carlough, Director of Education for SMART (Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation Union). “We are encouraged to see this resource-rich tool for construction workers and know many other unions across the globe will find it beneficial.”
For more information visit https://www.constructionworkingminds.org/.
###
About the United Suicide Survivors International, Inc.
United Suicide Survivors International (founded 2016) is an independent international membership organization that serves as a home for people who have experienced suicide loss, suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts and feelings, and their friends and families -- collectively known as people with lived experience with suicide – to leverage their expertise for large scale change. We envision a world where lived expertise becomes the fulcrum that leverages all suicide prevention efforts. We put the lived expertise of suicide attempt and loss survivors into action through leadership, collaboration and advocacy. www.UniteSurvivors.org