37 NOVEMBER 2024 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Supporting Mental Health in the Construction Industry Adapted from Information by CONEXPO-CON/AGG The construction industry is known for being a high-stress environment. Production is key, so keeping things on time and on budget is a high priority no matter what the project is. From exerting yourself in extreme heat or working longer hours with not enough sleep, safety concerns creep up quickly and these things affect our mental health too. A problem that arises from standardizing practices is it can start to feel like a checklist and the human element is lost. People start to operate on autopilot and serious consequences can happen when we aren’t acting mindfully. “That's the new challenge,” said Josh Ierna, safety manager at Tilcon Connecticut Inc. “People end up in these situations because of high stress levels and different things at work that are happening due to the type of work, so why wouldn't we focus on these things that clearly lead up to the crisis rather than just trying to focus on when a person's basically at the brink of breaking?” The industry has set practices to prevent injuries like falls or risk of electrical shock, and programs like Total Worker Health® take similar preventative measures to address mental health concerns that arise in construction. One of the norms being challenged is halting production for workers to get mental health care. Part of Tilcon Connecticut’s safety measures allows for a worker to stop if they need to talk to someone, and they will pay for someone to come in and counsel the worker. Tilcon Connecticut kind of jumped into Total Worker Health, which sounds scary from a business perspective. But the program takes leadership through all the steps, finding what works best for each individual company regardless of size. Everything in the program is backed by information the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has gathered, so these are science-based practices. They connected with Kyle Zimmer, the health & safety and members assistance program director at the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478. Zimmer contacted NIOSH, which already had the data and statistics about the need for a more encompassing program to protect worker health. It made sense from a safety perspective to get involved, but the corporate leadership at Tilcon Connecticut recognized the crucial work being done and wanted to be part of it. There’s a lot that goes into making flexible working options effective, from allowing production pauses to rotating schedules so workers have more personal time. “I'll start by saying we're just scratching the surface,” Josh stated. “We had a pretty long journey that ultimately landed us into the Total Worker Health program from NIOSH and it's a thing that you just hop into. But you really develop it based on your own individual company needs using the fundamentals that they lay out.” The program aims to protect workers by looking at work conditions broadly and including mental health to approach health and safety with preventative measures. If you are in a mental health crisis, call or text 988 to speak to a crisis counselor now. You can also text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line and speak to a live, trained crisis counselor. Learn more about the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 988 (https://988lifeline.org/). CONST Booth 520
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