FEATURE
“With any other safety practice, we’re not reactive; we don’t wait until
somebody dies or is severely injured to start putting safety practices
into place. Just like we take the preventative approach when it comes
to physical safety, we need to take that preventative approach with
mental health, as well.”
– Michelle Walker, Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention
However, there are some behaviours that anyone can
watch for.
“Pay attention to somebody who acts anxious, agitated
or reckless, or if they’re increasing drug or alcohol use – they
may be self-medicating,” said Walker. “If someone is talking
about feeling trapped, wanting to die, being a burden, feeling
hopeless – using those words is not normal for someone to
talk about.”
A person at risk may appear sad or depressed most of the
time, or they may seem to experience extreme mood swings
from day to day. They might withdraw from groups and not
want to be connected to other people.
“These are more personal, but there are also definite
signs in the workplace that get misinterpreted as performance
issues,” said Walker.
Changed behaviours such as a decrease in problem-
solving ability, decreased self-confidence or productivity, or
an increase in absences or tardiness might indicate an issue.
Starting conflicts with co-workers or a change in safety performance
with more frequent near-miss accidents or injuries
could be a warning sign.
“At least the question should be asked, ‘We’ve noticed these
things, is something going on?’” said Walker. “You can see the
danger in just addressing this with disciplinary action; ask
somebody what’s causing the change in their behaviour.”
This is your problem
“If you think that you don’t have a problem with suicide or
mental health in your workplace, you’re probably wrong – you
just don’t know about it,” said Walker. “With any other safety
practice, we’re not reactive; we don’t wait until somebody
dies or is severely injured to start putting safety practices
into place. Just like we take the preventative approach when
it comes to physical safety, we need to take that preventative
approach with mental health as well.”
She also points out that beyond being a workforce issue,
suicide is a societal issue that can indirectly affect businesses.
“It may not be somebody in your workplace at risk of suicide,
but maybe it’s their kid, spouse or friend,” she said. “By
training our workforce, we can become part of the bigger
societal shift in addressing this. If your employee’s son or
daughter, for example, dies by suicide and they could have
helped prevent it, that’s going to affect their ability to be a
productive employee, and it’s going to increase their risk of
suicide.” According to research, people who lose a loved one
to suicide are twice as likely to die by suicide themselves.
Start talking about it
Talking about suicide can be awkward or uncomfortable at
first, but it’s important for companies to persist in order to
normalize the conversation and begin breaking down the
stigma attached to topics surrounding mental health.
“You become more comfortable the more times you hear
something – it’s less shocking, less frightening,” said Walker.
To begin normalizing the topic in the workplace, include it
in as many different sources as possible.
“Every safety meeting that we have, it’s talked about in
some way or another so that our employees are hearing the
message consistently,” said Walker.
Hang posters, use company newsletters or other internal
communications, and have a toolbox talk about suicide and
mental health.
“We mention mental health in our new hire safety training
video, so from the first new hire orientation and onwards,
employees are seeing it,” said Walker. “When we talk about
benefits, we point out the behavioural health care that’s
accessible to normalize using it like you access any other
health care.”
Getting employees comfortable about having these conversations
and then educating about warning signs are
important first steps to preventing suicide in the construction
industry. Learning to recognize warning signs will
empower employees to step in.
“If somebody is being unsafe or if there’s an unsafe condition
on a job site, employees are empowered, encouraged
and even required to make sure that work stops until that
risk is addressed,” said Walker. “Just like that, they need to
be empowered if they think that somebody is at risk of hurting
themselves, that they need to step up and get that person
connected with help.”
Company leadership has an integral role to play, as well.
“Having vocal leadership support saying that this is a required
attitude shift is critical,” said Walker. Company leadership
needs to display, through words and actions, that workers can
feel safe asking for support for themselves or for others.
“Make sure they know that they’re not going to get punished
if they need to take a day off to see a counsellor or if
they ask for some accommodation because of a mental
health concern or family crisis situation,” said Walker. “Help
them know that support is there and have policies that are
tolerant of that so people aren’t afraid of losing their job or
getting someone else’s job in trouble if they say, ‘Hey, I think
that they might have trouble with drinking or drugs.’”
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