Minnesota Addresses Suicide in The Trades

(Adobe Stock via Minnesota News Connection)

(By Mike Moen. Minnesota News Connection) – National Suicide Prevention Awareness Week is underway, and in Minnesota, the construction trades are on a mission to change the mindset of workers and project leaders. A pair of industry groups have formed the Minnesota Construction Mental Health Alliance.

Organizers say the trades still tend to be male dominated with a macho feel. Progress has been made in improving physical safety on job sites, but Joel Smith, president/business manager of the Laborers’ International Union of North America in Minnesota and North Dakota, said he wants more conversation about confronting the “stressors” workers often wrestle with.

“It’s the demand of the jobs,” said Smith. “It’s the long time away from family, long hours, and sometimes always not knowing when the next job is.”He said in the upper Midwest, cold weather disrupting workflows is another form of stress.

The Alliance cites data showing construction as having the second highest suicide rate behind farming. It also notes a construction worker is four to five times more likely to die of suicide than of a workplace-related accident.