Danger: Men at Work
By Adam Christopher for Insight – Safer Highways Magazine
It may be a well-worn PR strategy to attract news coverage or the flimsy pretext for a cheap television programme, but there is something irresistible about a rated list. The ‘50 worst films of all time’ – for which Joel Schumacher’s 1997 superhero film Batman and Robin takes the top spot according to Empire magazine. Or the ‘best places to live in Britain’ which the Sunday Times have declared to be Ilkley in Yorkshire this year. The ‘best Tina Turner songs’…and so it goes on.
At the beginning of the summer, this hackneyed old tactic was used by a recruitment consultancy company which had carried out ‘analysis and an index of mortality, injury and health risks’ of professions. This led them to the conclusion that the most dangerous job in the UK was being a paramedic, citing as evidence that they are frequently subject to physical attacks from patients, are at risk of catching diseases from them and may also struggle with their mental health on account of the stress of the job. In second and third place respectively were firefighter and oil platform worker where the potential risks presumably need less explanation.
Nevertheless, current Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show that the largest number of work-related fatalities in Great Britain occur in the construction industry. Whilst alarming, given it is one of the most high-risk sectors, it is not an altogether surprising statistic. What is astonishing is the extremely high incidence of suicide in the industry; the equivalent of two people a day in the UK taking their own lives.
Suicide is the leading cause of death in England in adults below the age of 50 and, according to mental health charity Mind, 75 per cent of those are male. In 2017, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the results of research conducted between 2011 and 2015 analysing suicide in different occupational groups for people aged 20 to 64 years.
While identifying the elements of a profession that might make workers more likely to take their own lives is highly complex, three broad reasons emerged which acting together could increase risk: low pay and low job security; occupations which already carried some risk; having access to, or knowledge of, a method of suicide. For example, suicide rates are high in agriculture, but this could be attributable, at least in part, to farmers having access to firearms.
The ONS report found that the risk of suicide among low-skilled male labourers, particularly those working in construction roles, was three times higher than the male national average. The group with the second-highest risk were males working in skilled trade occupations, accounting for 29 per cent of suicides during the period surveyed. Conversely, but perhaps not surprisingly, those in the highest paid occupation group had the lowest risk. This is especially true for corporate managers and directors for whom the risk of suicide is 70 per cent lower than the national average.
If we accept the correlation between low-paid, insecure and potentially hazardous or injurious work, then we must also consider the inextricable link between our physical health and our mental well-being. Being subject to risk on a daily basis is clearly a stresser in itself.
In 2020, Highways England marked Road Safety Week by publishing research and footage which highlighted the dangers faced by roadworkers. A three-year survey recorded around 6,500 incidents of drivers entering roadworks sites – an average of 175 a month – putting not just themselves, but workers on the site at risk. Managing Director of Amey Highways, James Haluch, commented:
“Each one of these [incidents] results in injuries to our people and it is generally the case that the physical injuries heal far quicker than the mental health ones.”
Employers have a (legal!) duty to apply effective measures to ensure workers do not sustain injury or are harmed by the work they do. That might be carrying out risk assessments or providing PPE, but a hard hat is not going to protect your head from self-doubt, low-esteem, anxiety or depression.
Construction is a male-dominated sector with women still making up only 13 per cent of the industry’s workforce. It is simplistic to attribute the prevalence of poor mental health to men’s defensive attitudes which prevent them from speaking out or sharing their distress for fear of appearing weak.
Active Training Team’s (ATT) safety leadership programmes are designed to help companies create an organisational culture which enables workers to feel confident speaking up if they think something is not right and to know they will be listened to. It is also about gracefully accepting challenge and developing the communication tools which enable colleagues to find mutually successful solutions and outcomes.
The health and safety sector, policy makers and business now recognise that employers must bear responsibility for their employees’ mental well-being as well as their physical health. There is no hierarchy of ‘dangerous’ jobs as in reality we can all be emotionally and psychologically vulnerable, but the construction industry needs to work harder to address the conditions and pressures which translate into these tragic statistics.
