A staggering 94% of professionals working in the ‘hard hat’ industries have reported major challenges with their mental health, including feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness. This is according to new research from hydraulic hose replacement specialist Pirtek UK & Ireland.
The research, which aims to shine a light on the scale of the mental health challenges facing all heavy industries from a worker perspective, found that 75% of respondents reported feelings of stress, whilst anxiety (62%), depression (43%) and loneliness (41%) were all commonly cited as major mental health challenges.
Worryingly, for every hundred workers, 14 have cited feelings of self-harm or suicide. The Office of National Statistics reported 34 suicides per 100,000 in employment in the construction industry, equating to 7,000 workers out of every 100,000 experiencing feelings of suicide.
Discussing the alarming research findings, Martyn Smart, Group QHSE Manager, at Pirtek UK & Ireland said,
It’s incredibly worrying that so many of our survey respondents have reported challenges with their mental health. Professionals who work in these sectors face many hazards in their day-to-day duties, but it’s important to remember that mental health risks in the workplace must also be assessed to correctly measure the level of risk to workers.
Martyn Smart, Group QHSE Manager, at Pirtek UK & Ireland
As a result of these mental health challenges, four out of ten professionals in the hard hat industries have taken time off work. The national average for time taken off work for mental health reasons is 12.4%, whereas Pirtek’s research found this to be over three times higher (39.5%) for the hard hat industries, signifying the scale of the problem for these industries.
Despite the challenges surrounding participants’ mental health, Pirtek also found that one quarter of survey respondents would never discuss their mental health with their colleagues and three out of ten (28.9%) have spoken about their mental health with their peers but have felt uncomfortable in doing so.
Similarly, just 59% of respondents stated that their workplace had mental health support in place in their workplace, whilst four out of ten workers reported that there was no support in place, or they were not aware of it. And just 35% of respondents have utilised external professional services to support their mental health. This indicates that businesses who operate in these industries must have support available and do more to drive internal awareness around the support systems workers can access.
Adam Burrows, Managing Director, Pirtek UK & Ireland said,
It’s believed that one in every two people will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime. Despite the growth in awareness towards mental health in recent years, our research has found that there is still much more work to be done. It’s vital that we continue to drive awareness and ensure the correct support is in place for every individual to access, should they need to.
Adam Burrows, Managing Director, Pirtek UK & Ireland
Joanne is the editor for Workplace Wellbeing Professional and has a keen interest in promoting the safety and wellbeing of the global workforce. After earning a bachelor's degree in English literature and media studies, she taught English in China and Vietnam for two years. Before joining Work Well Pro, Joanne worked as a marketing coordinator for luxury property, where her responsibilities included blog writing, photography, and video creation.