Suicide rate among construction workers hits crisis levels: 'We have to watch out for each other'

Kevin O’Shea, president of Shamrock Electric Co., Inc., has one vital message to construction workers who are struggling with their mental health: call him. 

It's a message he shares as much as possible given the growing number of suicides among workers in the industry. 

"I'm not a professional. I'm just some guy that would rather hear you tell me your story than hear your friend tell me your eulogy," O'shea told FOX Business. 

While he isn't a professional in the medical sense, O'Shea has been in the industry for nearly five decades, and has come face to face with colleagues and employees who have considered suicide. O'Shea isn't a stranger to mental health issues either, admitting that he has found ways to deal with his tremors, ADHD and depression. 

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According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the construction industry has one of the highest suicide rates compared to other industries. About 56 out of 100,000 men in construction die by suicide, according to data published in 2021.

In 2016, the suicide rate for men in construction and extraction occupations was over 49 per 100,000, which was almost twice the total suicide rate for civilian working men between 16 and 64 years old in 32 states and five times greater than the rate for all fatal work-related injuries in the industry. 

When O'Shea found how bad the statistics were, he started doing everything in his power to raise awareness about this issue. 

"We have to be our brothers and sisters, keepers, that we have to watch out for each other. We have to make sure that if somebody is hurting, we recognize the signs and we help that person," he said, adding that "if we can save one person. That's a step in the right direction."

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In 2019, he received an unexpected call while celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary in Paris. His office manager contacted him to relay that one of his employees had informed the foreman that he may not be able to work the next day.

"Instead of the foreman saying, ‘okay, call me, let me know one way or the other,’ the foreman said, ‘what do you mean by that?’," O'Shea recalled. 

The worker revealed that his girlfriend left him with their baby, his brother had recently died by suicide and his other brother was battling cancer. O'Shea said the worker expressed uncertainty about whether he could "go on."

O'Shea saw that same worker at a safety meeting two years after getting him the help he needed. 

"That apprentice came up to me and said, 'Kevin, I can't thank you enough for you and the company standing behind me in my darkest hours.' And to me, that is what getting the message out is all about," O'Shea said. 

O'Shea frequently tells people in the industry that there is "an 800 pound gorilla in our industry called stigma. And the stigma is that you can't talk about your feelings." 

He's fighting to change this, and he's not alone. 

Greg Sizemore, Associated Builders and Contractors vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development, has also heard far too many about workers who have been struggling since he started in the industry about 50 years ago. Like O'Shea, he told FOX Business the rate of suicides in the industry is "alarming." 

On top of the struggles they may be dealing with in their personal life, Sizemore told FOX Business that these workers are also contending with the immense pressures on the job site. 

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Not only is the industry "inherently dangerous", but every job is driven by cost and schedule, Sizemore said. This means professionals that are actually installing the work face "a tremendous amount of pressure because the end date never changes," he said. Today, workers might also be working 10 to 12 hours per day about six to seven days a week to meet the demand needed to get the work done on time.

"We need to educate our workforce more directly on the signs and symptoms that they need to look out for when their peers or an employee that works for them may be under distress,"  Sizemore said. "When we raise our awareness…this becomes an issue that we can actually be proactive about rather than reactive." 

If you or you know someone who needs help: 

Kevin O'Shea's email: Kevin@shamrockelectric.com.

He also directed people to call or text 988, which is the suicide and crisis lifeline. 

Counselors with the 988 Lifeline network are trained to provide free and confidential emotional support and crisis counseling to people who are in a suicidal crisis or emotional distress. 

These services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across the United States.

They can also get resources from the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP) by going to www.preventconstructionsuicide.com.

The alliance raises awareness about suicide prevention and provides resources and tools to create a zero suicide industry by uniting and supporting the construction community, according to its website.