Samaritans reach out to building workers

Today is often called “Blue Monday”, due to a perception that it is the most depressing day of the year. However any day can be difficult for people struggling with their mental health, and, as The Samaritans point out, “feeling low isn’t just something that happens on Mondays or a random day in January”.

It does however provide an opportunity to highlight issues and raise awareness of the support available to Unite members.

A report last December from On The Tools found that nearly three quarters of UK construction workers have been affected by mental illness, and that workers in the sector are four times more likely to take their own life than the national average.

These shocking numbers sadly come as little surprise to people working across the industry – and at the recent Unite Construction Sector Conf delegates debated motions on the issue as well as hearing from guest speakers highlighting the support available.

One of the speakers was Sam Gale from The Samaritans. Sam is Senior Business Manager for The Samaritans Workplace Training Programme (STEP) and was only too happy to speak to Unite reps about the ways the organisation can support members.

Sam explained why the Unite Sector Conference was an important opportunity to share the work of the Samaritans. 

Sam explained: “At Samaritans, we believe that suicide is preventable and highlighting risks in specific communities safely and responsibly can raise awareness and encourage life-saving conversations. Highlighting risk can also focus resources and attention on those who need it.”

“The Unite Sector Conference was a valuable opportunity to raise awareness of the support and resources available through Samaritans for those groups who are at higher risk of suicide, including the construction sector.”

“Unite Reps have a unique voice in their organisations and their passion to increase support for colleagues can help focus resources on improving mental wellbeing provision and investment within the organisation.”

Being a Construction Sector gathering it was important to highlight why this sector is so badly affected. Sam explained that “Suicide is the leading cause of death in England in adults below the age of 50, and research shows that some occupations are at particularly high risk.”

Male labourers working in construction have a risk of suicide up to three times higher then the male national average, while those working in skilled trades saw the highest risk among building finishing trades; particularly, plasterers and painters and decorators.

Sam said these “had more than double the risk of suicide than the male national average.”

In order to provide help where it is most needed it is vital to understand the issues behind the statistics. 

Sam said: “These are all shocking and alarming statistics and there are unique factors and stories behind each life tragically lost. In the construction industry, in order to target support for those most at risk, it’s important to understand what factors can contribute to poor mental health.”

“Most notably long working hours, heavy workloads, frequent travelling and time away from family, working in isolation, high risk tasks and lack of job security.”

National H&S Adviser Rob Miguel also spoke at the conference. He explained the United Minds campaign and how union reps can play a vital role supporting colleagues at a time of poor mental health in the sector.

Rob said that, though suicide involves a lot of factors, “suicide kills more construction workers than falls every year. With four times as many construction workers dying by suicide there has to be an element related to this type of work.”

Conference Chair, Billy Parry, thanked the speakers saying; “We fought for better Health and Safety conditions after the high level of deaths in construction from accidents. With suicide rates four times higher than this we need to campaign on mental health issues.”

You can contact The Samaritans any time, day or night. The contact information is here.

For more information on the United Minds Campaign and to explore its resources click this link.

By Keith Hatch

Photo by Mark Thomas