Each year 190 people from the construction industry die by suicide in Australia, which is the equivalent to one death every two days.

Researchers at UWA hope their new study into the mental health of construction workers will help to identify risk factors affecting their psychosocial health. 

Michael Kyron is a lecture in the UWA School of Psychological Science and business support manager with Suicide Prevention and Resilience Research Centre. He said the study aims to identify who is the most at risk and why. 

“The survey is identifying particular psychosocial aspects contributing to poor mental health whether it be excessive job demands, a lack of workplace support, or conversely bullying in the workplace or a lack of training,” he said. 

The study aims to help employers in the construction industry to better support their workers after changes to the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 were made in April last year.

The new regulations made employers legally responsible for managing risks associated with the psychosocial health of their employees, with penalties starting at $50,000 for breaches of the WHS Act in WA.

Despite the changes to the law, Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employment Union WA membership officer Kaelin Abrahams said that the union hasn’t received an increase in calls relating to mental health. 

“It’s a brilliant change, but at the end of the day mental health is always stigmatised. It doesn’t matter so much how you change the laws and the language, the culture is still there,” he said.

While this study and construction advocacy groups hope to bring more attention to the mental health status of workers, these new laws and potential penalties pose unique challenges to smaller businesses.

Men’s Mental Health and Wellbeing chair John Rich said supporting smaller construction companies through these new regulations is important. 

“They are often in tighter situations. They’re trying to get a job done as quickly as possible within a budget and often put pressure onto contractors, which is then passed onto their workers,” he said. 

UWA Business School senior lecturer of organisational behaviour in human resource management and leading researcher on this project, Joseph Carpini said a better understanding of the risk factors faced by construction workers is needed to take initiative in making the industry safer. 

“Being proactive will have so many benefits for individuals and society as a whole, but you can only be proactive if you have sound science and evidence on which to take that initiative,” he said. 

Dr Carpini also said the study is aimed at gathering an accurate representation of the workforce, specifically how gender affects a worker’s experience. 

Australia’s construction industry is heavily male dominated, with women accounting for just 12 per cent of the sector’s employees. 

“We recognise that women might be facing specific types of challenges working in the construction industry, where they are a double minority. Their particular psychosocial stressor risk factors might look different than those of men, the only way we can know that is if we do the research properly,” Dr Carpini said. 

The new study is being conducted by Dr Carpini, Dr Kyron, Dr Gillian Yeo and Dr Lisette Kanse, in partnership with MATES in Construction. They hope to gather 10,000 participants by September of this year.  

If you or a mate need some support, please call the MATES 24-7 Helpline: 1300 642 111. It is a free and completely confidential service.