Promote Awareness of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in Construction

NASBP is proud to be a member of the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention, which is committed to promote awareness of mental health and suicide prevention in the construction industry. NASBP encourages surety professionals to share information with contractor clients about how to establish a workplace that supports employees' mental health. Articles, websites, and press release materials are available at CFMA’s webpage
  
Too often, the construction industry’s “culture of safety” is limited to the physical aspects and neglects the psychological aspects. According to a recent article in The New York Times, between 1999-2014, there was a 22% increase in mortality among white, middle-aged men with less than a college education. Suicides, opioid overdoses, and alcohol abuse were listed as the causes of this increased mortality. The subpopulation most likely to die by suicide–white, working-age men–dominates the U.S. construction workforce. 

Please read this informative brochure by Sally Spencer-Thomas and Cal Beyer, "Construction + Suicide Prevention: Why is this an industry imperative? 10 Questions Leaders Must Ask Themselves," to learn more about this important topic, the risk factors specific to construction, and why construction companies can’t afford to ignore it.

The Alliance’s webpage has many resources, including posters for workplace/jobsites and more articles on why construction is such an at-risk industry and on the steps that construction firms can take to help support their employees' mental health.

Direct questions about NASBP's support of the Alliance to khoffman@nasbp.org.

This Pipeline article is one of a series of NASBP articles on suicide prevention in the construction industry. NASBP is a member of the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention and committed to promote awareness of mental health and suicide prevention in the construction industry. NASBP, Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) and other stakeholders in construction are participating in an industry-wide movement to help everyone better understand how to prevent suicide among the construction industry’s workforce and to improve the mental health of its employees.