Building up mental health in the construction industry

First conference on wellbeing will look at future of workplace mental health, understanding the issues and how to access advice, says Lesley Macleod

They say there has been a rise in pet ownership since Covid came into our lives. Animal rescue charities have, perversely, seen an increase in people both looking to adopt – and animals being dumped when the novelty wears off. Certainly, there are known mental health benefits in sharing your life with a companion animal.

I was brought up with dogs in the family and went on to have my life dictated to by a succession of rescue cats. I am currently pet-free, but it’s Churchill’s black dog that won’t leave me be. I don’t know why – or when – I’ll feel him panting at my heels. He appears from nowhere and there is no convenient out-of-the packet fix.

I’m not talking about the blues. There are times when it is natural and normal to be sad – when someone dies or at the sunset of a relationship. It is not nice, but it is natural, to be anxious or upset when bad things happen – if you lose your job or you’re ill.

And there has been enough of both of those over the last year. Those of us who have survived, and even thrived, have many blessings to count. But there is more to good health than being Covid-free.

I work for an organisation, the Association for Project Safety (APS), that was originally founded to make sure people in the construction sector got home in one piece.

APS now looks at the wider health and safety risks construction poses, not just to its workers but the people who live and work in the buildings the sector creates. But it has become clear – and the pandemic just set it in concrete – that more needs to be done about mental health.

I know the construction industry doesn’t have the best reputation. It is thought that suicide is killing more people than all the other hazards people face. Maybe it’s the predominantly male workforce. Or because people can be away from home from long periods, leaving them vulnerable to drink and drugs or gambling.

It could be bullying dressed up as banter. But it is why, tomorrow, we are running our first ever conference dedicated to wellbeing. Building the future of workplace mental health is all about developing an understanding of the issues and how to access advice and support – for ourselves and for others.

Poor mental health doesn’t just dog construction. We all need to overcome barriers stopping us taking those challenging first steps towards help. You wouldn’t think twice if it was something prosaic like lumbago.

Everyone needs support sometimes. Pretending – from the architects to the engineers, the supervisors to the trades – that everything is fine is simply lying to our colleagues, our families and ourselves.

But, frankly, I don’t want to talk about mental health ever again. Putting a special label on mental health makes it way too easy to put wellbeing in a box you can hide at the bottom of the cupboard under the stairs. For me, we might just be getting somewhere when people are either just well – or they’re not.

Lesley Mcleod, Chief Executive, The Association for Project Safety