Managing mental health on our construction sites

Led by Director of Infrastructure Development and Delivery (IDD), Mark Lissimore, the team are piloting the Mental Health Standard (based on ISO45003) across key new infrastructure sites in collaboration with our contractors and our colleagues. 

As our construction and infrastructure workbook continues to grow, it’s important that we take care of the people working for us and with us on our projects. Harker, Snowdonia, North Wessex Downs are just some of the first IDD sites that have implemented the standard, alongside Sea Link in Strategic Infrastructure and our joint venture partners. The standard will help improve mental health provisions and provide support to colleagues working at our construction sites.

Stephen Ellison from our Snowdonia project said:

Following development of the standard, and introducing a structured ‘plan, do, check, act’ system, we can ensure required outputs to support and improve mental health are in place. This has made a huge difference at this early stage demonstrating our commitment to improving mental health and wellbeing and enabling greater conversations on the project.

Craig Silcock, from our Portfolio SHEQ team in SI said:

We know the challenges and risks that poor mental health can lead to, particularly on construction sites, so for us in Strategic Infrastructure to be able to align with this new standard is an invaluable piece of work and we look forward to bringing it to life on our projects.

Mental health in the construction industry

Although mental ill-health is sadly a universal challenge across all UK workplaces, its negative impacts within the construction industry have become undeniable. In 2020, a Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) report found that 97% of construction workers had felt stressed, 87% had experienced anxiety and 70% had experienced depression over the past year.

The human cost of mental ill-health cannot be ignored, with suicide rates amongst construction workers at 3.7 times higher than the national average. Tough deadlines, working away from home, basic accommodation and long working hours are some of the factors we know that affect this industry, and we need to do better – that’s why the mental health standard was developed.

How we're tackling it

Last year, Mark Lissimore presented the problem to the NGET Executive and received unanimous support for implementing mental health best practice across all our construction sites. Then his team of construction leads and representatives from SHEC worked in collaboration to create a best practice standard. Which the team have tested and piloted, across NGET projects.

Keren Bartlett, Head of Supply Chain Compliance, said:

I’m super proud to have been part of the development of this standard. It shifts the dial for the management of mental wellbeing from ‘nice to do’ to ‘risk based and expected’. For me it represents a fabulous piece of collaborative work between NGET and 24 of our tier one contractors. It has the opportunity to make a significant positive impact on the management of mental wellbeing and reduction in suicide rates in the construction industry.

What’s next?

The team will continue to embed the standard across our construction projects in SI and ET, the goal is for mental health to become a site safety standard and an embedded part of our safety culture. The team are also developing a template which can be used to quickly stand-up mental health provisions for smaller, shorter projects.

Mark Lissimore said: 

We are in a unique position to be able to drive reduction in death by suicide across the construction industry. We believe we can make this happen by enhancing our own management system and leading by example. We need a systematic approach to setting minimum requirements, incorporating and embedding this into our procurement evaluation processes and bringing mental health considerations into everything we do, and our contractors do. It is fantastic that our contract partners are all buying into the principles wholeheartedly and very willing and keen to work with us.