Construction industry series: Owners STAND Up for Suicide Prevention

Abstract

COVID-19 continues to unleash a fury of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty on the global economy. Before COVID-19 struck, society and the construction industry had challenges with mental health, substance use disorders, and suicide. One small silver lining is that the construction industry had a solution to these challenges in the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP; www.preventconstructionsuicide.com). According to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the construction workforce is deemed to be at high risk for suicide. Construction is the industry with the highest number of suicides among all occupations. Moreover, construction has the second highest rate of suicide among all occupations following only the mining and oil/gas extraction industry group. The rate in the United States for construction industry workforce is over three times the rate for the general population (45.3 per 100,000 workers vs. 14.2 per 100,000 population).