Is suicide a workplace health and safety issue?

Thursday, 20 February, 2014

A one-day Construction Industry Inaugural Mental Health Conference (20 February, Brisbane) will address the question of whether suicide is a workplace health and safety issue and promote collaboration around mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention across the industry and between companies.

“Different initiatives will be highlighted that can be implemented in the workplace, showing there are plenty of options to improve safety around mental health, but doing nothing is not one of the choices for responsible workplaces,” Jorgen Gullestrup, CEO, Mates in Construction, said.

“The conference is all about encouraging the exchange of information among workplace health and safety professionals, mental health professionals and members of the industry around mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention in the workplace,” he said.

With the support of the Queensland Mental Health Commission, the conference will feature workplace suicide prevention authority Dr Sally Thomas-Spencer, founder of the Man Therapy campaign aimed at increasing help-seeking behaviour among men, the highest group at risk of suicide.

Dr Thomas-Spencer’s presentation will focus on workplace suicide prevention and dealing with the aftermath of suicide in the workplace.

The national peak organisation for suicide prevention nationally, Suicide Prevention Australia, has also chosen this conference to launch its position statement: Work and Suicide Prevention.

Increasingly the focus has been on mental health at work with recent studies pointing to the large financial and emotional costs to society of poor mental health at work. This has led to both the Commonwealth and the state-based Mental Health Commissions increasingly looking to the workplace as an environment for interventions and preventative work.

“If the industry is to have an impact on mental health, wellbeing and suicide, then we need to address the issue at all levels,” Gullestrup said.

“At a managerial level, good policy and support must be available, but it is also important that every worker plays a part by looking after themselves and their mates,” he said.

There is evidence to suggest that more workers die from suicide than accidents at work in the construction industry. This is in fact true for many industries; suicide is the leading cause of death for men under the age of 40.

The death of a colleague comes at a large cost to productivity. It means loss of know-how and training and greatly affects the mental health and wellbeing of others at work, leading to increased absenteeism and less output.

While worker suicide at work is relatively rare, it is not uncommon for members of the public to complete suicide at or near a worksite. Such events also have a profound effect on the workforce.

Need help now? If you work in the construction industry (Qld, NSW, SA, WA) and you, or your mate, are doing it tough and need help now, please call the Mates in Construction helpline on 1300 642 111 (24 hours, 7 days).

The conference is supported by: