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FEATURE
The construction
industry suicide rate is
four times that of the
general population.
adding more anxiety on a person who isn’t able to healthfully
process stress.
Risk-seeking and access to lethal means
“We’re not born wanting to end our lives; that would be counterproductive
to the human species,” said Walker. “But by
living through dangerous situations or witnessing accidents,
people get desensitized to seeing people die or get hurt.
This is a reason that law enforcement or first responders are
highly at risk for suicide.”
When you consider the construction industry, a project
could involve working at high heights, in deep trenches
or around heavy equipment, or in other environments that
would make many people feel uncomfortable.
“People who work in construction already have that
sense of risk-seeking and being comfortable with risk and
dangerous behaviours because they have to be in order to
get the job done,” said Walker. “But that can also go too far
in somebody who has the propensity and that capacity to
take their own life.”
A job site also provides access to lethal means.
“We’ve heard stories of electrocutions that weren’t accidental
or falls from high places where everyone was tied off
all shift, and then someone was suddenly untied,” said Walker.
Chronic pain
Years of physical work and the natural wear and tear that
comes from a physical job, in addition to any potential workplace
injury, can lead to chronic pain. For a person who feels
that they may not be able to continue doing their job, chronic
pain can turn into a sense of hopelessness.
“They may think, ‘I don’t have any other skills; this is all
I know how to do and I physically can’t do it anymore,’” said
Walker. “This situation can lead to addiction, whether that
be to opioids that were possibly prescribed properly at the
onset, or self-medication either by alcohol or drugs to cope
with the pain. Substance abuse may also be a coping mechanism
to someone dealing with an untreated mental illness
or a personal situation that they don’t know how to manage.
Substance abuse and the spiral that it can create in a person’s
life is a huge contributing factor for suicide.”
Identifying a person at risk
Noticing changes in a person’s behaviour is the most accurate
way to identify someone at risk of suicide.
“This is why there’s a need to create relationships and have
a little bit more of a consistent team aspect to crews and construction,”
said Walker.
PILING CANADA 19
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