FEATURE
Construction sites can be high-risk working environments;
potentially hazardous conditions are often
everyday job components. According to Canadian
insurance firm Aviva, the top causes of construction
injuries and fatalities in the country are slips, trips and falls;
falls from heights; struck by moving vehicles or falling objects;
and electrocution.
However, a hidden danger has been taking the lives of construction
workers across the country at even greater rates
than the top causes identified in Canada.
“There are five times as many workers who die by suicide
than by physical job site fatalities each year,” said Michelle
Walker, chair of the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide
Prevention (CIASP). The Centers for Disease Control released
a report in 2018 concluding that more construction workers
die by suicide each year than any other industry. Outside of
an industry lens, says Walker, the construction industry suicide
rate is four times that of the general population.
“There’s definitely a distinct need in the construction
industry to focus on suicide prevention,” said Walker.
“The effort we put into job site safety and preventative factors
needs to also be put into emotional factors and mental
wellbeing. We need to implement the safety 24/7 approach
– making it as important that our workers get back to work in
the morning as it is important that they go home at the end
of each shift.”
Integrating mental health into toolbox
talks and employee onboarding helps
to destigmatize mental health issues
YUTTANA JEENAMOOL/123RF
Suicide is killing construction
workers. What can we do?
By Jill Harris, Lester Communications Inc.
PILING CANADA 17