The construction industry in the U.S. has the highest rate of suicide of all industries, according to a 2016 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Canada the numbers could be just as alarming.
According to stats by the Distress Centre, highlighted at www.torontodistresscentre.com, 4,000 people die by suicide annually in Canada.
While the stats don’t breakdown rates into different industries, the Canadian numbers are probably on a par with the U.S., says Sally Spencer-Thomas, a clinical psychologist and suicide prevention speaker based in Denver, Colo.
Spencer-Thomas was one of several speakers at a three-day workshop held in Toronto for 35 participants from Canadian locals of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART).
The workshop’s objective was to start a discussion on mental health problems and suicide.
Awareness is the first step to removing the stigma of suicide and the starting place to develop strategies for prevention, Spencer-Thomas says.
The workshop was organized by Chris Carlough, director of education for SMART, which is a partner to the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ Association (SMACNA)
Spencer-Thomas, who lost her brother to suicide in 2004, is the founder and president of United Suicide Survivors International.
A number of the Canadian participants spoke of suicides within their locals — one who was on the local’s board of directors. Others talked about drug problems in their local. In one case, an apprentice at a training centre in Ontario had a $600 a day drug habit.
Spencer-Thomas says risk factors for suicide in construction include: the high pressure environment, transitory work, a male-dominated “tough guy” world and hard labour that can lead to chronic pain and a diet of pain killers.
Access to lethal means on the job is another factor in the industry’s high ranking, the psychologist says, noting if one of two equally unwell people has access to lethal means, for example working at heights, with dangerous equipment or electricity, that person is more apt to die by suicide.
While depression and mood disorders are a top cause of suicide, drug addiction is another, she adds.
The workshop was comprehensive with a lineup of speakers addressing addiction, drugs and included a review of the peer support initiative established by SMART that trains workers to see signs and symptoms of co-workers in distress.
“In my opinion peer support is the most important link in the chain of survival,” Spencer-Thomas says, adding she is unaware of any other union or building-related association that has done as much hands-on prevention training as SMART.
“The fundamental values of things that connect peer support to SMART are the fact that the values of a union (advocating on your behalf) can dovetail with peer support and suicide prevention pretty seamlessly.”
She points out that often the ideal candidate for peer support is a worker who has “been touched by” suicide because they “have a bigger heart for the work.”
“One of the things we know is helpful in breaking through stereotypical ideas related to suicide and mental health is for people to share personal stories of how they came through it…about their resilience, coping and recovery,” she says.
Many medical professionals believe there is “a very strong connection” between opioids and suicide, she explains.
“Opiates work on the brain in a way that they take out part of the brain that alleviates suffering. People still experience pain, they just don’t care about it.”
Spencer-Thomas adds any conversation about mental health and suicide must include risk and safety managers on construction sites because not all fatalities are accidents, some are suicides.
“It is a very eye-opening thing for people who have been invested in safety for a long time” to consider having to add suicide prevention to the safety game, she adds.
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