September is National Suicide Prevention Month

By Emma Peterson. 

Staying safe on the jobsite is about more than just proper PPE and tie-offs, it’s about having the hard conversations. 

In the United States, suicide is one of the leading causes of death, claiming the lives of almost 50,000 people in 2022 alone. In that same year, it was estimated that 6,000 of those lives were construction workers. These numbers are staggering, but there are things that we can do to help. In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Mandy McIntyre of Level Up Consultants shares what you can do and what active suicide prevention looks like on the jobsite.  

In addition to her work at Level Up Consultants, Mandy is a mental health first aid instructor. She shared what inspired her to get involved with that, saying, “The reason I started doing that is because of the crisis within construction and roofing. More people in construction die from suicide or overdose every year than every other workplace related fatality combined statistically. Further, if you're in the trades, you are more likely to have an alcohol use disorder or substance use disorder.” This is a massive problem threatening our community, and September, which is National Suicide Prevention Month, is the perfect time to highlight what can be done about it. 

The first and foremost thing to remember is suicide prevention needs to be proactive. Mandy explained, “Think of it like a hard hat. We enforce hard hats to prevent a head injury. We don't start enforcing hard hats after someone has something dropped on them, right? It's that same approach with mental health. It's proactive.” 

A great first step is simply starting a conversation about mental health with something like a mental health toolbox talk. These don’t need to be directly about suicide prevention, instead they can address common mental health challenges that lead people to dark places, such as stress. Mandy elaborated, “It's so important to make mental health a normal conversation. No one wants to talk about these things, but that’s one of the biggest problems. The statistics are proving that by not talking about it, people are dying. So as a leader, you have to step up and start having these conversations.”  

Overall, the biggest thing you can do personally to support the mental health and safety of your team is to treat it like their physical health and safety. That means toolbox talks and check ins that give people a safe space to speak up if something is not okay. Mandy elaborated, “Think of it like if you saw a ladder with a broken foot, you wouldn't just leave it there to be thrown on a truck and be utilized. No, you would tag it, take it out. You would say something. It's the same thing with mental health, meaning if you start seeing changes in a coworker, maybe their productivity has declined, they’re calling off a lot or saying things like they can’t go on and don’t know what to do, say something, have a conversation. The biggest myth with suicide is the idea that asking someone about suicide is going to push them in that direction. And it’s actually the opposite, most people who are having suicidal thoughts are begging for help, so saying something can make a life-saving difference.”  

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about suicide prevention on the jobsite and in the larger construction industries.