Making a visible difference to tackling mental health and suicide risk in construction

Workers in the construction industry are three times more likely to commit suicide than the general population but for those working in the building trades the risk is much higher at eight times. These are stark figures but construction industry charity the Lighthouse Club launched a new campaign called #Makeitvisible at the start of this year that is already making a difference.

Lighthouse Club chief executive Bill Hill joined NCE editor Claire Smith and assistant news editor Rob Hakimian for this episode to talk about why the Construction Leadership Council called on the charity to take the lead on the issue and what the campaign involves.

Bill outlines the four elements of the work which cover reactive and proactive strategies, research into delivering long term cultural change and how the impact will be measured.

During the conversation, Bill talks about how Ford and Speedy Hire have sponsored vans for people from the construction industry who have been affected by poor mental health but have since trained as mental health first aider to go out and visit sites to talk about the issues and resources available. Bill shared with Claire and Rob that the programme has already delivered 87 interventions for people who were suicidal demonstrating the potential impact this initiative could have in the long term.

One of the key factors of #Makeitvisible to ensuring people know how to access support and Bill calls on all firms to include the campaign’s video within safety briefings for every site. It can be viewed and downloaded by clicking here.

As well as talking about #Makeitvisible, Bill also gives advice specific to both business owners and employees about what they could do today to support colleagues and improve wellbeing in the sector.

Claire concludes the podcast by urging anyone dealing with any of the issues discussed to seek help and support as early as possible and not to struggle alone. She also shares a number of resources, which are listed here:

Any construction worker or their family can access the MakeItVisible.info portal, you can call the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity 24/7 Helpline on 0345 605 1956 or you can text HARDHAT to 85258 for immediate text back support.

Also remember that the Samaritans helpline is available to everyone and you can call them at anytime to talk about yourself, a friend or a colleague on 116 123.

Mates in Mind also has a lot of resources specific to the construction sector, which businesses can use to support staff or individuals and is also available to people working in the sector and you can find these at www.matesinmind.org

Since the pandemic the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Benevolent Fund has also evolved its services to go beyond financially helping members who are struggling to include outreach on wellbeing issues too. There is a free 24 hour wellbeing helpline that you can access by calling 0800 587 3428 from the UK or for international callers, it is available on +44 1482 699 177 and there are more details online at www.icebenfund.com

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