MAP: Senate Bill Targets Construction Industry's High Suicide Rate
Senate bill targets construction industry’s ‘tragically high’ suicide rate - Safety+Health Magazine
By S+H Staff
Washington — Legislation recently introduced in the Senate is aimed at bolstering efforts to prevent suicide in the construction industry.
The industry has one of the highest rates of suicide, according to a press release from the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV). The release adds that in 2023, almost a fifth of deaths by suicide with a reported industry code were tied to construction, despite construction workers making up only 7% of the U.S. workforce.
The Constructing the Path to Suicide Prevention Act (S. 5327) would direct the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect data on the “unique suicide risk factors facing construction workers that can be used to inform future suicide prevention programming.”
Among those risk factors are lack of employment and financial stability; substance and alcohol use; and limited access to health care coverage, employment benefits and employee assistance programs.
“From our homes to our offices, our roads to our favorite coffee shops, construction workers are responsible for building America,” Cortez Masto said in the release. “But work in this industry presents distinct mental health risks, and we owe it to construction workers to find solutions. This legislation will give us the tools we need to combat the tragically high rate of suicide among construction workers and work to end the stigma around mental health on the jobsite.”
The bill has been referred to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. It’s backed by North America’s Building Trades Unions, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Laborers’ International Union of North America, and the Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, among other organizations.