A little less conversation...
Fewer words and more actions could potentially save 500+ construction lives per year.
Imagine there was a stretch of road near your home where, each year, more than 500 pedestrians were killed in road traffic incidents. What would you expect your local authority to do about it?
You might rightly expect the installation of a lot more warning signs, quickly followed by some traffic calming systems - width restrictions, speed cameras, speed bumps etc. Perhaps a new footpath or footbridge would be added to ensure that cars and pedestrians were kept safely apart.
Regardless of the specific action taken, you would expect precisely that: action.
What you wouldn’t expect is report upon report reminding us all just how dangerous that stretch of road is. You wouldn’t expect the creation of multiple new charities, each seeking their moment in the media spotlight while aligning themselves with the 500+ dead. You wouldn’t expect social media campaigns and initiatives from the local authority responsible telling you how they are advocates for road safety. You would expect action.
And you would surely expect action if there was something within the construction sector that was killing more than 500 of its workers each year.
Suicide does precisely that. It kills more than 500 of the industry’s own each and every year. And what has the industry done about it? What action has it taken?
Well we now have more mental health charities than you can shake a stick at. Once or twice a year, companies inundate their social media feeds with details of their mental health awareness. A couple of trade bodies will pop up from time to time to remind you of their mental health advocacy.
But you will note that, in each instance, those responses are words, not deeds. They do not move the needle on the precise causes of the industry’s mental health awareness. They do not improve the lot of those currently suffering, or address the issues of those that will - unquestionably - suffer in the future.
They do not fix the problem. They merely state they are aware that there is a problem.
That is like standing beside our imaginary section of deadly road, pointing at it, and - as the bodies of dead pedestrians pile up - saying: “That road is dangerous.”
Yeah. No shit Sherlock.