The numbers are shocking: The Centers for Disease Control reported that workers in the construction industry committed suicide in 2016 at the second-highest rate of any industry grouping in the country.
According to the CDC, suicide rates were only higher for those working in one other occupation group: the mining, quarrying and oil-and-gas extraction industries.
The CDC found that in 2016, the most recent year for which stats are available, for every 100,000 construction industry workers, 45.3 males committed suicide. That rate was 9.4 of every 100,000 for females in the industry.
In the mining, quarrying and oil-and-gas-extraction industries, for every 100,000 workers, 54.2 males committed suicide.
For context, for all industries or occupations tracked by the CDC, for every 100,000 workers 27.4 males committed suicide while 7.7 females did the same.
Numbers like this are why Appleton, Wisconsin-based general contractor and construction manager The Boldt Company in 2021 created its own suicide-awareness and -prevention program. The program trains volunteer employee “gatekeepers” to identify the warning signs of suicide in their fellow co-workers. These volunteers will then help refer co-workers to the appropriate suicide-prevention resources.
These gatekeepers serve as the first point of contact for workers who are struggling with mental health issues and thoughts of suicide, often holding the first conversations with employees who are seeking mental health support.
Britta Endres, an administrative supervisor at Boldt, and Shelly Kirkpatrick, a human resources business partner at the contractor, are both serving as volunteer gatekeepers at the company. Both agreed that Boldt’s suicide-prevention program is badly needed. And both agreed that the program has made a difference, helping to guide several employees to needed mental health services.
“I was taken aback by how high the suicide numbers were for our industry,” Endres said. “But I also know what the construction industry can be like. People in construction constantly face high-pressure deadlines. They are working long hours. They are not always working at a site near their friends and families. There is also some uncertainty today. Am I still going to have a job tomorrow? Where will I be working tomorrow? Those are all pressures and concerns that people in our industry face.”
Britta Endres, administrative supervisor, The Boldt Company
Kirkpatrick agreed that the pressures that workers in the construction industry face have long been intense and aren’t lessening anytime soon.
“They have to deal with so many things that are out of their control,” Kirkpatrick said. “Weather can completely change their schedule. So can suppliers. Then there are injuries. People can get seriously injured on construction sites. It can be difficult to maintain a high level of composure when so much is out of your control on a daily basis.”
Shelly Kirkpatrick, human resources business partner, The Boldt Company.
Another challenge in the construction industry? Despite gains in recent years, the industry remains dominated by men. And men are less likely to talk about mental health issues such as depression or anxiety.
As gatekeepers in Boldt’s program, both Endres and Kirkpatrick look for clues that their coworkers might be feeling stress, suffering from anxiety or battling depression. They’ll then talk to that person. If it’s warranted, they’ll provide the worker with mental health resources.
“If someone doesn’t look like their usual self, I’ll approach that person and ask how he or she is doing,” Endres said. “We’ve promoted the program and informed everyone about how it works and that this resource is available. We want them to know that we are here and that we can provide them with the resources that they might need.”
The assistance that gatekeepers in Boldt’s program provide might include referring workers to the company’s employee-assistance program or offering to talk with them about their problems. They might refer workers to counseling agencies or the national 988 suicide hotline.
As Endres says, it’s important for workers to understand that the 988 number isn’t just for people having suicidal thoughts. It’s for anyone struggling with mental health issues.
“Safety in construction is our number-one priority,” Kirkpatrick said. “We want to send people home in the same or better state that they were in when they came to work. If we don’t incorporate mental health in our safety programs, we are missing a huge component of what leads to physical ailments. Mental issues are physically draining on the body.”
As Kirkpatrick says, Boldt’s program doesn’t train gatekeepers to be a psychologist or medical professional. But it does offer strategies that volunteers can use to navigate a conversation with struggling coworkers to make it more likely that they’ll seek help for whatever issues they are facing.
“We want to help our coworkers realize that they are not alone,” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s about taking the taboo nature of the discussion off the table. There’s a lot of bravado in the construction industry. Workers’ bodies can take a beating. It’s tough for them to admit that they have a weakness. In our business, you have to be tough. Bringing light to this issue can make a difference. That’s what this program is about.”
Endres said that the more the program’s gatekeepers talk with coworkers about suicide prevention and mental health, the less taboo the topic becomes. It helps, too, if volunteers with the program can share their own personal experiences with mental health challenges.
This, Endres says, lets struggling coworkers realize that they aren’t the first, and won’t be the last, person to face suicidal thoughts or struggle with depression or anxiety.
“The more we talk about this subject the less it feels like a big scary thing that can’t be talked about,” Endres said.
Endres said that Boldt has been including mental health topics more frequently in the company’s regular safety communications that are given to workers on job sites. Gatekeepers have also invited subcontractors to give presentations about the mental health issues they’ve seen workers struggle to overcome in the field.
About 100 Boldt employees are volunteering as gatekeepers in the program. That’s out of about 2,100 total workers at the company.
And the results of the program? Both Kirkpatrick and Endres said that Boldt employees have become more willing since the program started to talk about the mental health struggles they are facing.
Endres points to a recent example: A gatekeeper met with a tradesman on a job site who was struggling with challenges in his personal life. After speaking with the worker, Boldt officials agreed to shift the tradesman to different, safer tasks on the job site. This meant that he could continue working on the job while reducing the chance of suffering a serious injury because of the distractions he faced in his personal life.
“We allowed him to put in a full workday but also acknowledged that he did have mental health issues that he was addressing,” Endres said. “It’s about taking the extra time to deal with a person as a whole person. We want our workers to be on the site. We respect the work that they do. But we also want to figure out how to keep our workers safe while the work is getting done.”
For Kirkpatrick, Boldt’s program is about communication, and giving employees the chance to talk about whatever issues they are facing.
“Even if someone is unwilling to talk, you can plant a seed,” Kirkpatrick said. “You might see that someone is struggling and needs assistance but isn’t ready to talk about it. If you give that person an opportunity, if you tell the person that you are there when he or she is ready to talk? That could make all the difference.”
Why have Endres and Kirkpatrick signed up for the gatekeeper program?
Endres said that she has worked through her own struggles with mental health and had thought about suicide in the past. At the time, she didn’t have access to the kind of resources that Boldt is offering and didn’t know where to turn for help.
Endres’ own history, then, inspired her to help others through Boldt’s program. As she says, “I wanted to be that resource that I didn’t have. I knew that I could make a personal connection with others struggling with these issues. I’ve been there. I’m not trying to imagine what it is like. I know what it is like, and I came back from the other side.”
Kirkpatrick says that she was inspired to volunteer because of the experiences of her daughter, who, when in high school, considered suicide. Kirkpatrick also had a parent who attempted suicide. Fortunately, both Kirkpatrick’s mother and daughter received the help they needed and are now living happy, healthy lives.
“They had to go through the deep, dark period of life,” Kirkpatrick said. “When I found out about this program, I knew that I wanted to be a part of it. The people at this company care about each other. Boldt is a large company that feels like a small family business. People are in tune with each other. They want to help their fellow workers. And this program gives us another way to do that.”
