The Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity is partnering with the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) to promote better mental health and wellbeing within the Irish construction industry.
The charity launched its 24/7 Construction Industry Helpline and app in Ireland in June, and is providing free and confidential financial, physical, and mental wellbeing support to its construction workforce and their families.
The CIF’s recent ‘Mental Health Report’ called for a number of actions to help support the mental health of workers, including ensuring resources are available to develop a positive mental health and wellbeing culture on construction sites.
The report also found that only 13% of micro-enterprises have a formal reporting policy. This is despite half of all companies saying mental health issues affected absenteeism in the industry. Ninety-four percent of companies believe it is critically important the industry improves management of employees’ mental wellbeing.
The partnership will ensure that organisations are aware of all the free resources available to them, including the 24/7 Construction Industry Helpline and app, and a huge variety of mental health and wellbeing training.
Bill Hill, chief executive officer of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity, said: “We are delighted to be appointed as the CIF’s charity partner and ensuring that our construction workforce get the support they deserve and need. Our mission is to ensure that no construction worker or their family is alone in a crisis, and by joining forces we are able to deliver a clear and strong message to the industry that it’s time to talk and seek help.”
Bill continued: “A large proportion of construction workers are sole-traders, micro-enterprises and SMEs. They do not have access to an employee assistance programme for support, so when things go wrong, the situation can quickly spiral out of control. By making all the services free, confidential, and easily accessible, we aim to remove the key barriers to people reaching out for support.”
Dermot Carey, director of safety and training at the CIF, added: “Mental health is now considered a safety issue amongst CIF members. It’s on a par with physical safety concerns on-site. However, the industry has decades of learning and collaboration in developing a world class safety culture on Irish site in terms of physical safety. We are still on our journey to promote mental health and wellbeing in our industry, but we are making great progress.
“Our partnership with the Lighthouse Charity indicates how important this is to the industry’s leadership. From my interactions in the industry, I understand the charity’s helpline has been warmly welcomed as a useful resource by CIF members, and I have no doubt many workers will benefit over the coming years for this. When you start a partnership like this, you’ll never know the true impact of having the resource, you can only hope that it helps someone at a difficult time and maybe influence them away from drastic harmful actions. That hope, that you show one person facing the dark, a light and a way to shore is enough.”
