TOTAL SAFETY A Guide to Resilience and Mental Fitness in the Construction Industry
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April 2022
Dear Utah Construction Business Leaders, Over the past year, your businesses and employees have weathered the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic with great success, as evidenced by the strong job growth in your industry. However, we also recognize the incredible stresses put on the construction sector: the ever-growing demand for new housing construction, tight project deadlines, and a workforce shortage, just to name a few. There is ample data showing that workers in construction suffer from mental health challenges, including suicide, at rates far too high. These long-standing mental health challenges, coupled with the stresses of previous years, have prompted the creation of this new resource: Total Safety, A Guide to Resilience and Mental Fitness in the Construction Industry. This new guide is part of the Utah Community Builders’ Workforce Resilience Through Mental Fitness initiative, and will equip construction employers with data, tools, and best practices to prevent suicides and bolster well-being and resilience in the workforce. We urge CEOs, presidents, managers, and human resource professionals in Utah’s construction industry to carefully review this guide and consider what steps can be taken to support the resilience and mental fitness of construction industry employees. This is important to businesses in all sectors throughout Utah and to the state as a whole. Together, we can save lives and ensure Utah’s construction workforce is resilient, mentally and emotionally fit, and ready for the challenges and opportunities of the future.
Lisa Eccles Co-Chair, Utah Community Builders Advisory Board
Clark Ivory Co-Chair, Utah Community Builders Advisory Board CEO, Ivory Homes
Derek Miller President and CEO, Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance
President and COO, George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation
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Construction is one of the most exciting industries in our country. It’s an industry that impacts every single person living within our communities in some way. Everything needs to be built, maintained, and in many cases, remodeled or rebuilt. It’s an industry with endless opportunities, where an entry-level worker can advance to a leadership position and even the “C” suite. It’s essential in every aspect of our lives. It can also be an industry with a dark side, a side that not many can see. That is the mental health burden on our friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers, the people we depend on and care about to come home safely every night; those people are our employees. They are our most valuable resource and most important tool, and it is time to shine a light on how the construction industry can better care for our employee’s mental well-being. As the Associated General Contractors enters our 100th year of service here in the state of Utah, we invite you to embrace the “Total Safety, A Guide to Resilience and Mental Fitness in the Construction Industry.” This document, a call to action, includes sobering facts, encouraging ideas, industry leader quotes, and a simple guide on how we as an industry can hit head-on the challenges we face regarding mental health in general and suicide prevention in particular. This guide will save lives and will have a positive effect on how the construction industry can address these very real and urgent challenges. Richard Thorn President and CEO Associated General Contractors of Utah
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The stigma and shame associated with mental health permeate all levels of society. Brain disorders should be seen the same as disorders of the kidney or the heart. Yet stigma causes inequity within health care systems and keeps policymakers from crafting laws free from discrimination. Stigma keeps people from seeking the treatment they need, robs them of their joy in life and well-being, and, in the worst case, results in ultimate harm. Mark Hyman Rapaport, MD CEO Huntsman Mental Health Institute
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Call to Action
Safety is integral to any successful construction site. In recent decades, the physical safety of construction workers has become a top priority for construction businesses throughout the nation, resulting in safety checks, toolbox talks, and a work culture that strives for every worker to get home safe to their families at the end of the day. Did you know?
FOR EVERY 1 THERE ARE 6
CONSTRUCTION WORKER DEATH ON THE WORKSITE
SUICIDES AMONG CONSTRUCTION WORKERS 1
Construction has the suicide rate of all industry groups 2 2nd highest
Across all industries, 72% of employers know that suicide prevention is the right thing to do
72%
and
86%
86% want to increase employee health and well-being. 3
1 “Suicide Rates by Major Occupational Group” Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. November 16, 2018 2 “Partnering to Prevent Suicide in the Construction Industry – Building Hope and a Road to Recovery” NIOSH Science Blog: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention September 9, 2020 3 https://workplacesuicideprevention.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/20191113-2-Pager-Workplace-Suicide-Prevention.pdf
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Total Safety is organized in three key sections:
1. Company Leadership
2. Manager Training
3. Worker Resources
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Section 1: Company Leadership
Moving toward a “Total Safety” model that incorporates the mental and emotional wellness of workers can’t simply be a function of your HR department. To be truly successful, Total Safety requires top leadership in the company to demonstrate commitment to the resilience and mental fitness of employees. There are two major considerations to successfully lead a Total Safety effort: leader modeling, and assessing your business. Leader Modeling Starting at the CEO/President level, the most impactful way to signal the importance of resilience and mental fitness in your workforce is to model the behavior that leads to resilience, and be open with employees about it.
By providing a safe work environment for our employees, Big-D strives to eliminate added stress that could negatively impact mental health. Our culture extends beyond hard hats and safety glasses to take care of our own. We want our Big-D family members, from executives to laborers, to know they can talk openly and safely about any difficulties they may be facing. Together we can find a solution because they are not alone. Big-D also encourages employees to take advantage of their benefits and the 24/7 life assistance program, which offers confidential counseling for them or anyone in their household. We want our employees to feel their best, so they can be their best.
Rob Moore CEO Big-D Construction
Employees at every level who see their leaders model the words and actions that support resilience and mental fitness at work are more likely to follow suit.
Tips for Leader Modeling: • Consider sending regular, brief, video or written messages to all company employees • Share how the stresses of the past year and a half have impacted you personally, and how you empathize with workers at the construction sites given all that they deal with (tight deadlines, never-ending demand for more work, physically tiring work) • Be explicitly clear that you value physical safety as well as mental fitness, sharing your vision for “Total Safety” of all crewmembers at worksites
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Assessing Your Business Consider forming focus groups of no more than ten people who represent different groups within your company. Include leadership like your HR director and other senior employees, as well as superintendents and foremen. Invite open and honest discussion in these focus groups, and try to answer the following questions: 1. Is resilience and mental fitness discussed in our workplace? If so, is it discussed with the same rigor as physical health or safety? 2. What’s the impact to our work crews and overall business if workers are experiencing poor mental fitness? 3. When do workers experience the most stress, worry or loneliness? a. Consider major project deadlines, or days with important milestones at a worksite, like a scheduled concrete pour. b. What about when seasonal workers aren’t working for weeks or months during winter? c. How are these situations handled by our leadership? Are employees given extra support, flexibility and resources? 4. Do our workers often abuse alcohol or substances to deal with the stresses of the job? a. What healthy coping strategies exist that we can promote? 5. What is our company doing to support employees who may be actively struggling, or to support employee mental fitness on an ongoing basis? What is working? Where are the gaps? 6. Does our company have any reasonable suspicion training for signs of substance abuse? 7. What are the barriers to employees accessing the resources or services we DO provide? 8. Is there a written policy clearly establishing resilience and mental fitness as a company value on par with physical safety? 9. Do workers feel they’d have a safe person to talk to (like their foreman or superintendent) if they ever felt like they were struggling?
Record the answers to these questions. They’ll give you a clear sense of where to start, where to improve, and help you create an action plan for addressing mental fitness.
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Section 2: Manager Tools and Training
Superintendents and foremen at your worksites are well-positioned to build the resilience and mental fitness of workers. Equipping them with the right tools and training reaches workers through organic peer connections, building on the focus on physical safety that already exists on worksites. Consider the following key tools and training resources with which to equip your superintendents and foremen: Toolbox Talks on Resilience and Mental Fitness Incorporate Resilience and Mental Fitness into regular Toolbox Talks as part of safety briefings. Topics include:
Reducing stigma
Recognizing signs of someone struggling
Starting the conversation
State of our industry
Addressing substance abuse and healthy ways to manage stress
Toolbox Talk on Mental Health PDF available here
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Total Safety Hard Hat Stickers These stickers can be handed out to superintendents and foremen who have been trained on the tools and resources they can use in their discussions with workers. As others on the worksite feel comfortable, they can put the stickers on their hardhats, lunch boxes, water bottles/thermos or anywhere else as well, signaling they’re someone others can talk to safely.
Contact AGC Utah to order stickers: slagc@agc-utah.org
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Live On Utah Live On Utah is a public-private mental health and suicide prevention campaign that aims to modify attitudes and social norms to reduce suffering and save lives. Live On acknowledges a unique need to engage with the private businesses of Utah in order to help normalize the conversation around suicide and mental health, and has partnered with the Larry H. Miller Company, Strong Automotive, Intermountain Healthcare, Deseret Industries and several other businesses to launch the first phase of this campaign. Together, these organizations have helped to develop custom messaging for Utah’s business communities addressing mental health and suicide through a series of video PSAs. All videos may be accessed at liveonutah.org/workplace, along with the full Employer Toolkit for Suicide Prevention in the Workplace. All campaign creatives can be accessed free of charge by contacting liveonutah@gmail.com or visiting liveonutah.org/campaigns
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Manager Training
Did you know? Across all business sectors, only 25% of business leaders have been trained in referring employees to mental health resources. 4
Training superintendents and foremen on how to manage and respond to employees who may be struggling is the most direct way to make a difference in your workforce. There are a variety of resources available.
To set up a QPR training for your superintendents and foremen, contact the Utah Suicide Prevention Coalition at: info.suicideprevention@gmail.com. Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) - Just as people trained in CPR save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help.
You can also learn more about the QPR Institute here: qprinstitute.com.
Utah Community Builders and the Salt Lake Chamber are partnering with multiple organizations in Utah to provide free or discounted resources exclusive to Salt Lake Chamber members as part of the Workforce Resilience through Mental Fitness campaign.
These resources include manager training, consultations, assessments, and digital mental health resources for employees. To learn more and find the resource that’s right for your business, visit our Workforce Resilience page:
Manager training, employee tools, workforce assessments and more
4 https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/employers-fight-mental-health-care-stigma.aspx
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Section 3: Worker Resources
The construction industry has already made physical safety a core part of our business culture by ensuring our field personnel receive regular training on best practices. At Ivory Homes we’re now doing the same thing with psychological safety, and the response so far has been incredibly positive.
Analise Wilson General Counsel Ivory Homes
With superintendents and foremen trained and equipped with the right tools, they’re able to better respond to the needs of workers at the worksite. Make sure your workers are clear on what your company offers through health insurance as well as an Employee Assistance Program, if applicable. Have your superintendents and foremen encourage use of those resources, and speak openly about when they access it for themselves. It’s also important to connect workers to crisis intervention resources. These resources can be used for themselves, their spouses, their kids or their friends:
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Available Resources
There are numerous crisis intervention resources available to workers. The ones listed below can also be used by worker’ spouses, kids or friends.
SafeUT • Chat with a licensed counselor for support or submit a confidential tip right from your phone • Original SafeUT app targets students, parents, educators and others
Live On Utah • Education, resources, and support to prevent suicide available on the Live On website: Liveonutah.org • Request more info at: info.suicideprevention@gmail.com • Additional resources to help with mental health or substance abuse: • Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health dsamh.utah.gov 988 • New national suicide prevention and mental health crisis lifeline — 988 — that will route all callers, texters, chatters to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline • Compassionate, accessible care and support will be available for anyone experiencing mental health-related distress — whether that is thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress • People can also dial 988 if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support
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Conclusion
Construction can be a stressful profession that strains the bodies, and minds, of workers. Leaders who prioritize Total Safety for their employees by modeling and messaging resilience and mental fitness, supporting manager training, and ensuring workers are aware of available resources, will move the needle not only for workers, but for their families and the entire business.
For more information on the Workforce Resilience initiative, visit Utah Community Builders, the Salt Lake Chamber’s social impact foundation: slchamber.com/utah-community-builders Or contact Nic Dunn, Director, at: ndunn@slchamber.com
For more information on training and education resources from the Utah Chapter of Associated General Contractors, visit: www.agc-utah.org Or contact Taylor Smith at: tsmith@agc-utah.org
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Special thanks to Utah Community Builders Foundational Investor:
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