Fr om t he p r es i d en t
IF SAFETY IS OUR MOTTO, THEN MENTAL WELLBEING MUST BE A KEY SAFETY INITIATIVE, ESPECIALLY NOW BY: DAVID HELVESTON, PELICAN CHAPTER, ABC
2020 has been a challenging year for our nation and the construction industry. We’ve experienced a global pandemic with stay-at-home orders and governmentmandated closures of businesses, a collapse of oil prices and contraction of construction activity, record unemployment rates, and protests on racial inequities in our country, just to name a few. These are unprecedented and often stressful times. I’ve seen ABC Pelican companies address the pandemic with a strong safety plan and procedures that prioritize their employees’ health. Yet as much as we prioritize the physical health and safety of our employees and coworkers, the time is long overdue for us to expand that safety focus to include mental health. More construction workers die by suicide each day than by all other workplace-related fatalities combined. With a suicide rate that is four times greater than the national average, the construction industry is facing an enormous crisis. Whatever our role in construction, we have a responsibility and a calling to value and uphold the mental wellbeing of the employees and colleagues around us. Lowering these terrible statistics around suicide in construction starts with understanding the warning signs and proactively doing something about those signs. We must understand what we can do to build up these at-risk individuals. •If you’re a manager, supervisor, or any position of leadership in your company, have an open-door policy. Change your mindset and view asking for 47 www.abcpelican.org/newsletter
help as courageous, not disgraceful. Advocate for comprehensive mental health and suicide prevention polices in your company. Try to keep crews together that consistently work together so that they can build strong relationships. •Get to know your coworkers and employees by building a trusting relationship. Each one of us is more than a name and a skill set, who have a story, families, goals and unique personalities. Effort to understand the types of lives they live outside of the workplace community. •Communicate, communicate, communicate. Ensure employees and coworkers understand how you and your company prioritize mental wellbeing and suicide prevention. Give colleagues and employees the space to open up during a time and place that’s comfortable for them. •Raise awareness by educating colleagues and coworker to recognize signs of mental distress. As ABC Members, safety is in the very DNA of who we are as individuals, employees, citizens, family members and friends. If safety is a motto we profess in life and on the job, then mental health must be one of the key safety initiatives that we focus on. For educational resources on or ways to get involved in suicide prevention in the construction industry, visit preventconstructionsuicide.com.
