Construction. Mental health, safety and wellbeing.

[Cheesepig3]

Hello everybody.

I'm sure lots of you are actual construction workers, because this is such a full on worki g class site. Yeah.


Anyhoooo... on behalf of soneone who's got a budget on a public sector construction project specifically looking at occupational health including mental health, any ideas?

Already deeply engaged with "Mates in Mind", are there any young, lithe organisations offering worthwhile help to crisis-stricken workers?


Please don't flame me with "wah... wah... employers.. wah.. better support... money...".

I know. Ok.

 

[Epona]

I'd never heard of "Mates in Mind" but it sounds like a decent project.

What sort of organisations are you looking for and what sort of help do you want/can offer?

Oh also - important question - which part of the country?

 

[equationgirl]

My last employer, also in construction, teamed up with mates in mind, so I think that's a good start.

I was a union rep and the union put forward suggestions that were regularly ignored, for things like make sure staff are not continuously placed under stress or in stressful situations, pay a reasonable /decent wage, ensure any appraisal and/or bonus system is fair, act promptly to stop bullying and harassment, decent working practices, staff not blacklisted or penalised for union activities.

I don't know if any of that helps you. One thing though, urban is full of people from all walks of life and all types of working environment. Don't assume anything about people you haven't interacted with.

 

[Cheesepig3]

I'd never heard of "Mates in Mind" but it sounds like a decent project.

What sort of organisations are you looking for and what sort of help do you want/can offer?

Oh also - important question - which part of the country?

That biggish town near Kent.


London.

 

[Cheesepig3]

My last employer, also in construction, teamed up with mates in mind, so I think that's a good start.

I was a union rep and the union put forward suggestions that were regularly ignored, for things like make sure staff are not continuously placed under stress or in stressful situations, pay a reasonable /decent wage, ensure any appraisal and/or bonus system is fair, act promptly to stop bullying and harassment, decent working practices, staff not blacklisted or penalised for union activities.

I don't know if any of that helps you. One thing though, urban is full of people from all walks of life and all types of working environment. Don't assume anything about people you haven't interacted with.

I'm a rejoiner... been here on/off since 2006.

Thanks, your post does help.

 

[spanglechick]

My partner is a builder, and tbh - most of the MH and health issues ongoing in his world, are related to daily cocaine and booze binges.

 

[editor]

Hello everybody.

I'm sure lots of you are actual construction workers, because this is such a full on worki g class site. Yeah.


Please don't flame me with "wah... wah... employers.. wah.. better support... money...".

I know. Ok.

If you want help, cutting out the pointless sneering might be an idea

 

[equationgirl]

Cheesepig3

I looked at the Mates in Mind site today, and to be honest apart from encouraging people and companies to join as supporters, it's not clear what they do. They make it clear that they do not provide direct support E. G like the Samaritans do, but they do seem to offer training to make people aware that mental health problems can exist within the workforce.

Personally, I'm a bit disappointed that they don't provide more direct support, as to someone who has been in need of it an extra step or hurdle to go through just made the support seem even more out of reach.

So one thing employers could do is make a list of all the resources people can access directly and the ways in which they can contact them. Being able to contact a support service quickly by text would have really helped me at the time, and a lot of people would find it difficult to actually call someone. Then give people a copy of the list, not just posting it on a website that's hard to find, make it easy and accessible to people.

I had made it clear to HR during my redundancy process that I was suffering from stress and anxiety and all HR did was anonymously send me the Employee Assistance Programme leaflet to my home address. Twice. No way was I phoning that number in case anything was relayed back to my employer.

So don't do that.

 

[Proper Tidy]

Tbh there is a whole industry that has sprung up around health and wellbeing, wellness etc, and most of it is just bollocks. No material impact but employers can sell it as a benefit and abdicate any other responsibility. Place I worked at signed up to some company which basically stuck a few posters up saying 'its good to talk' and had a free phone number but didn't employ any counsellors so fuck knows why anybody would have called them.

If employers really want to address health and wellbeing then they should offer material benefits - help with childcare, financial health stuff like debt counselling, free/discounted financial advise for people shitting it about retirement, legal services, things that actually have a material financial effect (which ultimately is the root cause of the largest % of stress, depression etc).

 

[Proper Tidy]

Or pay more obviously but you know

 

[ice-is-forming]

Friends of MATES are in Aus. Mates in construction.

Pay for training at the front line level, which is valued by managers. Emotional cpr, assist, etc.. create peer workers within your workforce.

Theres been some well done e-learning mental health oh&s resources developed recently.

Ask the workers. Have a conversation, collect the feedback and inform your project on what you hear..

 

[Cheesepig3]

If you want help, cutting out the pointless sneering might be an idea

It was like the self referential stuff on Radio 4.

 

[Cheesepig3]

Cheesepig3

I looked at the Mates in Mind site today, and to be honest apart from encouraging people and companies to join as supporters, it's not clear what they do. They make it clear that they do not provide direct support E. G like the Samaritans do, but they do seem to offer training to make people aware that mental health problems can exist within the workforce.

Personally, I'm a bit disappointed that they don't provide more direct support, as to someone who has been in need of it an extra step or hurdle to go through just made the support seem even more out of reach.

So one thing employers could do is make a list of all the resources people can access directly and the ways in which they can contact them. Being able to contact a support service quickly by text would have really helped me at the time, and a lot of people would find it difficult to actually call someone. Then give people a copy of the list, not just posting it on a website that's hard to find, make it easy and accessible to people.

I had made it clear to HR during my redundancy process that I was suffering from stress and anxiety and all HR did was anonymously send me the Employee Assistance Programme leaflet to my home address. Twice. No way was I phoning that number in case anything was relayed back to my employer.

So don't do that.

Apologies for large gap.

Actually, MiM are better than their publicity suggests.

They're about two levels of training for organisations, which is why no direct support; 1. They train mental health first aiders (I'm sitting in on a course soon), 2. They train management in systemic, organisational causes of/triggers for mental ill health. Edit. I mean, what those causes are, not how to achieve them....

It's all fairly new but with suicide rinning at appx. 6 x death by accident in construction, overdue.


Mind, other causes of prematu death in constr, principally various dusts, run at over 7000 a year.....

 

[equationgirl]

Apologies for large gap.

Actually, MiM are better than their publicity suggests.

They're about two levels of training for organisations, which is why no direct support; 1. They train mental health first aiders (I'm sitting in on a course soon), 2. They train management in systemic, organisational causes of/triggers for mental ill health. Edit. I mean, what those causes are, not how to achieve them....

It's all fairly new but with suicide rinning at appx. 6 x death by accident in construction, overdue.


Mind, other causes of prematu death in constr, principally various dusts, run at over 7000 a year.....

That's OK.

I'm currently supporting a friend who isn't doing great. He said his employer has taken up some mates in mind training, but he's quite private and I think he prefers to talk to me as I'm outside the organisation.

A mutual acquaintance of ours committed suicide earlier this year, so I am keeping a close eye on him and checking in regularly. I opened up a bit about my own mental health stuff and he said it helped to know he wasn't alone in struggling with things like suicidal ideation.

Would I have that conversation with one of my current work colleagues? I honestly don't know.

 

[Cheesepig3]

Times are changing on this stuff.... really. Hard to give advice; i have my own issues but there is unequivocally a duty on employers to look after mental health as affected by their activities.


The interplay between this and personal matters is untested by courts; criminal and civil.

Main thing is, be aware of dangers and look out for self and friends.


Suicide kills 3 or 4 times more construction workers than accidents.

...but then, dust in the lungs kills maybe 20 times more....


Hope you're looking after yourself. Suicide nearby can be devastating.

 

[equationgirl]

Times are changing on this stuff.... really. Hard to give advice; i have my own issues but there is unequivocally a duty on employers to look after mental health as affected by their activities.


The interplay between this and personal matters is untested by courts; criminal and civil.

Main thing is, be aware of dangers and look out for self and friends.


Suicide kills 3 or 4 times more construction workers than accidents.

...but then, dust in the lungs kills maybe 20 times more....


Hope you're looking after yourself. Suicide nearby can be devastating.

Thank you, I'm through the worst of it for now I think, but worried about my friend more than anything. Hope you are doing OK too.

 

[Teaboy]

I missed this first time round but it may be worth having a chat with the lighthouse club. They are a construction specific charity who assist workers when they get injured or ill be it physical or mental.

Lighthouse Club - The Construction Industry Charity