Innovation

Powerful Film Out to Tackle Suicide in Construction

Suicide is increasingly taking its toll on the industry.

Updated on

September 10, 2021

man using a smartphone — Men are more likely to commit suicide than women. PHOTO | FILE

BAM Construct UK has released a short film that seeks to raise awareness on the rising cases of suicide in construction ahead of the World Suicide Prevention Day on Sept. 10.

The five-minute short, entitled On the Edge, pleads with construction workers to talk and listen to their colleagues should they suspect them to be suffering mental ill-health.

The film was produced by Ambanja Films in partnership with BAM and AKT Productions.

Ewen Hunter, BAM’s construction director for London, approached AKT Productions with a view to produce a short video to raise awareness on mental health in the construction industry ahead of this year’s World Suicide Prevention Day.

BAM Construct gave AKT Productions site access to allow the shooting of the video as well as an undisclosed financial contribution towards the initiative.

Ambanja Films undertook the filming free of charge.

Unique claim to the film

BAM earlier said it would not make any unique claim to the film so that other construction businesses can use it to raise awareness on the issue.

“The film has been made freely available to the global construction industry to act as a catalyst for “some difficult but necessary conversations”, said Marc Bolton, owner and managing director of AKT Productions.

On the Edge comes amid reports that the risk of suicide among low-skilled male workers, mainly those in construction, is three times higher than the male UK national average.

In the United States, construction suicide rate stands at 53.3 per 100,000 workers compared to the overall suicide rate of 12.9 per 100,000 people in the states.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, there are 25 suicide attempts for every suicide.

Some of the factors that lead to high rates of suicide in construction include low or inconsistent wages, poor working conditions, mental health stigma, separation from loved ones, and access to easy means of committing suicide such as heights.

“Men in construction have the ‘tough guy’ job site mentality that they don’t need any help from anyone. That has to change. If we see someone with problems on the job, we should reach out to them and ask if they need help,” says Bob Swanson, a suicide loss survivor.