The 'shockingly high' rates of suicide among construction workers has prompted Halton Council to become the first in the country to require any companies bidding for work to support the mental health of their workforce.

The construction industry has a high rate of suicide among young men, and the council’s ruling executive board recently voted that all future tender processes should include a requirement for the main contractor to include a 'scored statement' around mental health well-being among all staff and sub-contractors.  Halton Council said it is the first local authority in the country to take the approach.

According to the Health and Safety Executive in 2022/23, 45 building workers died because of work-based accidents. But the number of work-based accidents is dwarfed each year by the number of construction workers who commit suicide - 507 cases in 2022, which is almost 10 a week.

Councils nationally commission more than £18 billion of construction work a year, so have some control over the sector's working practices. A council spokeswoman said one way to begin to address the high number of suicides in the construction industry is to introduce the requirement that in all construction project tenders, bids must include a scored statement around mental health.

To find out more about the issues, Halton Council leader Cllr Mike Wharton and Chief Executive Stephen Young met with ex-Everton and England international footballer Trevor Steven - mental health ambassador for Causeway Technologies - which is leading a campaign aimed at improving the provision of mental health support in construction.

Trevor conducted a survey, visiting construction sites up and down the country between May 2022 and September 2023, speaking to more 1,400 on-site workers.  Using the subject of football to encourage workers to open up about their mental health, the survey found 56 per cent of them were experiencing mental health problems and 12 per cent experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Speaking after the Executive Board's decision, Halton Council leader, Cllr Mike Wharton, said: "The suicide rates of young men working in construction are shockingly high and it’s time to do more.

"Asking contractors to consider the mental well-being of their staff, and making this a prerequisite of being awarded contracts, will help make inroads into the challenge of reducing the numbers of suicides and people experiencing mental health issues at work. We are the first council in the country to take this approach and I hope many more will follow."

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