Findings Report: Mental Health in Construction 2022
In 2022 SafeWork NSW inspectors visited construction sites to raise awareness of psychosocial hazards in the building and construction industry. The data and findings from this project will inform a compliance and mental health program in 2024.
Project timeframe: January to March 2022
Summary and overview
Statistics show that Australian construction workers are six times more likely to die from suicide than an accident at work, with young construction workers more than two times more likely to take their own lives than other young Australian men. Mental ill-health is a serious problem in the building and construction industry. Whilst not all mental ill-health is caused at work, employers have responsibilities under work health and safety laws to ensure that work mental health hazards (also called psychosocial hazards) are effectively managed.
Mental health was identified as a target area in the 2022 SafeWork NSW WHS Road Map, with the goal to reduce serious injuries and illnesses, including mental ill-health, by 50%.
SafeWork NSW inspectors visited construction sites throughout January – March 2022 to raise awareness of psychosocial hazards in the building and construction industry. This resulted in over 500 PCBU interactions and the provision of guidance and advice to site supervisors and managers.
The data and findings from this project will inform a compliance and mental health program in 2024.
Types of sites visited
Of the 424 sites visited, 74 were commercial sites, 18 were demolition sites, 173 were residential house construction sites, 74 were infrastructure sites, 67 were mid-high rise construction sites and 18 ‘others’ included schools, churches, nursing homes, car park, solar installation site, civic and sports clubs.
Inspector observations
1. Do you think poor mental health is an issue in the construction industry? Yes 84%
2. Have you ever had to assist a worker or colleague in relation to mental health issues?
- Yes 64%
- No 34%
- N/A 2%
How was this done?
- Informally by having a chat 47%
- Formally through work processes 6%Both formally and informally 11%
3. Do you feel comfortable to in having a discussion with workers/colleagues about mental health? Yes 84%
3a. If so, why, or why not?
- Knowledge and experience 31%
- Compassion 28%
- Friends 15%
- Uncomfortable 12%
- Part of the role 7%
- Depends on situation 4%
- Unanswerable 4%
59% of managers or supervisor felt comfortable in discussion about mental health with workers because of their knowledge, experience, and compassion.
4. What do you think are the top three issues(s) impacting mental health for construction workers?
- Workload/work pressures/time constraints/hours 26%
- Home life/personal and relationship issues 20%
- Finances 15%
5. Does the business (PCBU) have anything in place to assist workers if they are showing signs of poor mental health?
- Yes 49%
- No 35%
- Other 3%
- Unsure 13%
5. What does the business have in place to help with mental health issues?
Internal policies and employee assistance programs are the main resources in place for PCBU to provide help and support when workers are experiencing mental health issues. Alongside internal support, toolbox talks, external providers and mates in construction have also been used as a place to deliver advice and guidance on mental health.
- Internal policies 23%
- EAP 21%
- Don’t know 11%
- General talks/toolbox talks 9%
- Mates in Construction 9%
- Informal advice 7%
- Mental health resources 6%
- External provider 6%
- Unanswerable 4%
- RUOK 4%
6. Have you ever accessed or looked up resources, services or information to assist you to understand or address mental health issues in the workplace? No 64%
6a. Where were the resources, services or information from?
- Online 20%
- External counselling/GP/Helpline 14%
- Internal 14%
- Mates in Construction 11%
- Lifeline 8%
- Beyond Blue 7%
- Black Dog 6%
- EAP 5%
- RUOK 4%
- Unanswerable 4%
- Toolbox/workshop 3%
- Don’t know 3%
The majority of services and information are sought from online providers, such as Lifeline, Beyond Blue, Black Dog, Mates in Construction, and RUOK. The other main resources were external, e.g., professional counselling, GPs or helplines as well as internal PCBU services.
What do you think should, or could, be in place to address/minimise mental health risks in construction business?
- Internal measures (toolbox talks, training, communications 32%
- Unsure 18%
- Awareness and campaigns 17%
What type of resources would assist you in addressing mental health issues for your workers at work?
- Information and resources 30%
- Unsure/don’t know 17%
- External consultation/training 15%
Most workers want to see more information and resources available on mental health issues in the workplace and also extra external consultation and training as a way to address workplace issues. There was, however, a significant number of workers who were unsure or didn't know what type of resources could assist them when addressing mental health issues.
Industry consultation and communications
The project aim was to raise awareness of workplace mental ill-health in the building and construction industry and highlight the programs, resources and tools available to create mentally healthy workplaces.
This was achieved through the delivery of targeted mental health resources and increasing the awareness of psychosocial hazards to workers, PCBUs, site supervisors, principal contractors, and key stakeholders through workplace educational visits and campaigns. This included:
- Creating awareness of mental health issues in the workplace
- Exploring what systems are in place to assist in managing the risk of poor mental health
- Creating awareness of the Code of Practice “Managing psychosocial hazards at work” and other useful resources
- Helping site supervisors feel comfortable to have mental health conversations at work.
Recommendations / conclusion
Mental health is an issue within the building and construction industry, and where issues have arisen, these have mainly been discussed through informal chats. The majority of managers and supervisors feel comfortable discussing mental health with workers. In addition, just under half of the PCBUs surveyed have systems in place to deal with mental health, but a small percentage were also unsure of what was in place within the business. Of those surveyed, most had looked up or accessed information to understand the issue when speaking to workers, whether internally or externally.
The largest issues impacting the mental health of building and construction workers are workloads, pressure to meet deadlines, and long working hours. These were closely followed by work-life balance, home life, and personal relationships. Finances are the third largest issue affecting mental health.
Internal measures, such as Toolbox Talks, training, better communication, and access to materials and resources were seen as a way to address mental health risks, in addition to more awareness and campaigns around the issue.
The construction industry would like more access to information and resources on mental health, along with professional consultation and training. These types of resources would help address mental health issues when they arise.
SafeWork NSW will look to develop a phase two mental health program, which will focus on mental health compliance and PCBU responsibilities.
Useful resources
Two new building and construction resources created include:
Other available resources include:
- Mental health at work
- Code of practice – Managing psychosocial hazards at work (PDF, 1039.04 KB)
- SafetyCast – Mental health in construction
- Lifeline Australia – 13 11 14
- beyondblue – 1300 22 4636
- MensLine Australia – 1300 78 99 78
- Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467
- NSW Health Mental Health Line - 1800 011 511
- Kids Helpline (for under 25s) – 1800 55 1800
- Mates in Construction- 1300 642 111
- SafeWork NSW “Speak Up Save Lives” app