Construction Suicide Prevention: Making It Safe to Speak Up

In the United States, construction has the second-highest suicide rates amongst the major industries. Underneath this statistic are the real pressures crews face every day, from long hours to physical danger to a culture that discourages showing vulnerability.

Matt Miller, HammerTech’s VP of North America Sales, knows this struggle better than most. His family owned a structural steel company growing up, and he worked in residential construction throughout high school. In 1987, Matt joined the Marine Corps and later served in the first Gulf War as an Arabic linguist.

After leaving the military, he struggled with PTSD, found help, and began helping other veterans. Matt has also volunteered with the PTSD Foundation of America.

We sat down with Matt and talked about why construction workers struggle in silence, what coworkers can actually do to help, what the industry at-large can do to prioritize mental health alongside physical health.

Why is suicide prevention so important to you personally?

Matt Miller: When I was coming out of the Marines, I struggled with PTSD. There was no decompression, no talking to anybody, no counseling, nothing. And it was hard for me to find heathy ways to cope. But I finally found help and got myself taken care of.

The point I try to make is simple: if a Marine can acknowledge that he was having issues and can go talk to somebody, you can too. It is not embarrassing. It is okay, and it is good for you.

And if a Marine can acknowledge that they had issues dealing with things and sought help, then a construction worker can, right?

That matters in construction because people don’t always feel they can bring these things up with each other. It’s a little bit like the military if you admit weakness. The guys just rib you incessantly, and they think they're doing it in a good humor. Then they are shocked when Johnny does not come to work one day.

Why do you think suicide rates are so high in construction?

Matt Miller: It may not be the construction job at all that causes you to commit suicide. Just so happens that you're a construction worker and a higher percentage of construction workers are men and men commit suicide more often.

Construction has historically been a male-dominated industry and men have the highest rate of suicide in North America. It’s the stress of the hours they work, the financial stress sometimes, they're dealing with things, and they can't talk. There's nobody they feel like they can talk to because it's a little bit like the military if you admit weakness, right?

Giving each other a hard time is normal, and most people don’t mean any harm by it. But it can make someone think twice about admitting they’re struggling. If you walk into a construction trailer at 5:30 a.m., some super is going to say, “Oh, you slept in this morning?”

I once had a Project Executive tell me, “This year I'm gonna drive five big jobs, and statistics say I'll lose one of my supers before they're completed.” That’s how bad it is now.

What stressors on construction jobs can make things harder?

The hours are a big part of it. If you’re junior, you can be working long days, six or seven days a week. Go to a construction site on Thanksgiving or Christmas and the senior people probably aren’t there. The junior people get stuck with it. That’s treated as paying your dues.

The work itself is hard, too. I’ve been on sites in Edmonton at 30 below, watching guys weld outside. Then you’ve got Houston and the South, where the heat is serious for a good part of the year, like at times it can be 110+ F — and you’re covered head to toe in a welding hood, leather overs, and sitting in front of a fire all day.

Now put those conditions together with whatever may be happening at home. If you don’t have someone you can talk to, it’s easy to fall into self-medication. I know that cycle. You drink to fall asleep, get a terrible night’s rest and then go to work at 4:30 or 5:30 in the morning. It’s not healthy.

That’s why we have to make construction a friendlier, more open place — one where people can say they’re struggling and get help. The job shouldn’t add so much stress that, when someone’s personal life isn’t perfect, it becomes the thing that tips them over into, just from normally being unhappy to this just isn’t worth it anymore. 

How can you tell when someone might not be okay?

Matt Miller: You can tell if somebody starts missing work, if they're coming in hungover every day. If they just have an attitude change, they're normally fun and gregarious and suddenly, you know, they're the most serious person in the trailer, that’s when you check in.

What can someone actually say without making it awkward?

Matt Miller: Be a friend. Ask “Hey, man, how are you doing? Is everything okay?” Make it okay to talk about stuff. Or, make an offer, “Is there anything you want to chat about? Are you dealing with anything at home? Is everything good?”

That’s something you can do in every job. I check in heavily with my own sales team. Salespeople have a lot of emotional ups and downs. I’m constantly taking temperature checks, especially if they’ve had a rough run (a couple of bad months or a few big deals fall through) I check in and make sure they’re okay.

That needs to happen on jobsites too. We need to be looking out for each other on the jobsite and checking in when we notice, when we can tell something's off.

The most tragic, devastating injury you can have is self-harm.

How do you make it safer for people to be honest about what they’re going through?

Matt Miller: All of us just have to keep talking about it and change the culture.

I want us to get to the point where you’re getting ostracized for being the guy that makes fun of somebody because he went to talk to somebody or said he’s having issues.

That’s how you get men to change, like you call them out, so they know: “Nobody’s laughing at your joke,” “Dude, that was funny 10 years ago. It’s not funny anymore.”

I feel like things are getting better in the space. There are more people talking about mental health. I’ve talked to construction leaders whose firms have mental health days. They’ll assign everybody buddies at work and if you miss a day at work, they’re gonna check-in and do a welfare check.

I think having a more diverse mix in leadership roles will also go a long way. If someone's struggling in the trailer or going through a divorce or dealing with whatever else life is throwing at them, they may feel more comfortable opening up to someone they can relate to.

What can construction leaders do to prioritize mental health?

Matt Miller: If you're an executive at a construction company, you need to be taking action and putting processes and systems in place to help your folks. Get the hotlines, assign the buddies, and the things that I’ve talked about.

We already do things physically to prepare for work and reduce injury like 15 minutes of Stretch and Flex. There's probably programmatically some things they can do with the help of an industrial psychologist…where put a program in place to get everybody mentally ready for the day.

Having a CEO maybe focus on a mental health topic regularly. Having leadership encourage you to reach out to a coworker, they straight up say, “If you're struggling, call somebody that you're close to.”

And supers, don't ostracize people that are struggling in your trailer, right? But the executives have to set the tone and the culture for the rest of the organization and make it a comfortable talk track.

I think you have to build a people-first culture into your business. Encourage people to take time away from work, and genuinely support them in doing that. The things that help people reset and stay well, like getting enough sleep, spending time with family, eating properly and staying connected to others. All of this takes time and energy. Give people room for that, and make it clear that stigma and intolerance have no place in business.

What gives you hope for the future of mental health in construction?

Matt Miller: We’re moving in the right direction. There are more people talking about it. I have routine chats about it now. I was at TEXO (the largest construction industry trade association in Texas) not too long ago, and I think it came up in three different conversations.

I hear people say, “This is one of our biggest problems at work that we’re working on, and we’re trying to solve it.”

If we take seriously the mission that people should go home the way they came to work, then mental health has to be part of that. And it’s on all of us to do something about it.