Talk about mental health at workplace

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The Safety Print - Safety Rise

Talk about mental health at workplace

Substance abuse, overdoses, and suicides are increasing problems in the trades. These outcomes are often the result of mental health challenges that have gone unaddressed. We all need to do our part to ensure our actions and behaviours at work do not negatively impact the mental health of our coworkers.

• 1 in 3 of us will have a mental illness or addiction in our lifetime.
• By age 40, over half of us will have had a mental health problem.
• Workers in construction have the secondhighest suicide rate of all working groups.
• White, working-age men are the most likely to die by suicide.

Identify controls

Everyone’s mental health is at risk if we don’t look out for and help each other, or if we allow teasing and bullying of those who may be struggling with mental health issues.
These are some things each of us can do to prevent mental health issues at the workplace:

• Educate yourself to gain a better understanding of mental health, suicide, and substance abuse problems like opioid use.
• Tackle the “tough guy” attitude that says it’s not okay to seek help or to offer help.
• Challenge behaviours that are mentally harmful, such as bullying, harassment, racial comments, hurtful name calling, etc.
• Learn the signs of someone who may be struggling with their mental health—and what you can do to help them.
• Check in with your own mental health, learn about available supports (e.g., Employee Assistance Programs), and seek help when you need it.
• Keep learning together—and keep talking openly about mental health.

Demonstrate

Leaders, supervisors, and managers can greatly influence the culture of their workforce by publicly supporting their employees’ actions to take care of their mental health and support each other.

Make yourself available to listen to your workers’ mental health questions and concerns, and always encourage open discussion. While there is no harm in taking the lead, there is great risk in holding back.

Example 

The COVID-19 pandemic added to mental health concerns for many of us. For example, in 2020:

• More than half of Canadians dealt with some sort of mental illness.
• Calls made to Canada Suicide Prevention Service were up 200% (over 2019).
• To cope with stress, loneliness, or boredom, Canadians drank more, smoked more, and consumed more drugs.
• Workers in the trades have an increased risk of experiencing mental health problems and thoughts of suicide due to job-related factors:
• Work is often high pressure and high risk, which increases stress.
• Many workers have a “tough guy” attitude, which prevents them from from seeking help or supporting others who may be struggling.
• Seeing or experiencing a traumatic incident might cause emotional harm.
• Chronic pain may develop from years of hard, physical labour, repetitive tasks, or long-haul driving.
• Workers are at high risk of developing an opioid addiction to manage pain. In fact, workers in the trades have the highest incidence of prescription opioid drug use.
• Separation from family and friends while on job projects or long hauling can be difficult.
• Inconsistent sleep due to work schedules and rotating shifts.