The Lighthouse construction industry charity has published the results of research it commissioned with Glasgow Caledonian University, revealing that suicides have increased within the construction industry. The research was conducted using suicide statistics from 2015 to 2019.
The number of suicides per 100,000 people, for construction workers, rose from 26 to 29 in the four years to 2019. The data shows no change in historical ratios, with those in the construction industry three times more likely to take their own life than in other sectors.
The findings also identified that people working in non-manual occupations, such as managers and professionals, have a lower suicide rate, which fell from just under seven, in 2015, to just under five per 100,000 people, in 2019. For workers such as labourers, the rate has risen from 48 to just over 73 suicides per 100,000 people.
The research, led by Professor Billy Hare, has helped develop a digital ‘dashboard’ which identifies measurable data on construction safety, health and wellbeing. It will be updated yearly, allowing industry organisations, policy makers and researchers to view trends, track the progress of industry initiatives, and inform future decisionmaking.
Bill Hill, CEO of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity, said: “It is worrying that our support is not reaching the ‘boots on the ground’ workforce. This could be because about 53% of our workforce are self employed, agency or zero-hour contractors, and we are simply not getting our message down the supply chain. Even more worrying, is that these statistics are pre-pandemic, so the full impact of this won’t be revealed until further data is released in October of this year.”
Professor Hare added: “This occupational group (‘unskilled’ workers) is usually higher than average for suicides, but the sharp rise and widening gap over the period analysed, in contrast to their non-manual colleagues, is concerning and may indicate recent initiatives are not reaching these more vulnerable sectors of the industry.”
The Lighthouse charity has been providing free emotional and wellbeing support through three main channels, including its free, 24/7 Construction Industry Helpline, an app, and free wellbeing training, In immediate response to the research findings, the charity is reportedly redoubling its efforts, working on proactive initiatives to ensure that no construction worker or their family feels alone in a crisis.
Help Inside the Hard Hat awareness campaign
The charity’s current campaign to raise awareness of mental wellbeing in our industry, Help inside the Hard Hat, encourages the construction community to think about workers’ mental health, and signposts people to available support. Posters and hoardings artwork are free to download.
Lighthouse Beacons
The charity is developing a nationwide network of ‘safe places’ for the construction community to talk, in a confidential environment, about mental health issues. These will be volunteer led and will deliver a network of self-help groups, run by facilitators that have lived experience.
Supporting apprentices
Piloting a mental wellbeing support programme with London Colleges, the charity hopes to instil a positive appreciation of mental wellbeing at the start of construction careers. The charity aims to provide mental health awareness training to 1,000 apprentices, and mental health first aid training to 100 tutors. The charity is also collaborating with the Rainy Day Trust to offer free tool kits and laptops to apprentices that are failing their apprenticeship due to affordability of tools or IT equipment.
Mind Builder
This is a new project with Building Mental Health and Samaritans, funded by the Construction Industry Training Board. Mind Builder aims to deliver a central hub of high-quality wellbeing assets and learning. This project will also link up with the Supply Chain School for enhanced learning.
Bill added: “We are ensuring that there are no barriers to accessing our charitable services by making them all free, including all of our MHFA training and Wellbeing Masterclasses. But, this is a collective responsibility and the industry as a whole must pull together to ensure that every person in our construction community knows where to turn to for support. We need to stop people feeling so desperate that they feel they have no other alternative than taking their own life.”
