Respect cures all ills

So many of the issues facing the demolition and construction industry could be cured - simply - with greater levels of respect.

There is much that ails the demolition and construction industry.

Site accidents and fatalities. A mental health crisis in which the industry has a suicide rate almost four times the national average. A gender and racial imbalance that persists despite years of "awareness campaigns" and hollow promises. Cut-throat competition that forces contractors to underbid, underdeliver, and undervalue the very workers who make their businesses possible. Unreasonable contract and employment terms that shift all the risk downward onto the shoulders of those least able to carry it. Equipment and fuel theft that adds insult to injury on already strained margins. An employee churn rate that has workers queuing at the industry exit while the industry entrance is almost eerily quiet.

We like to treat these as isolated problems. We spend millions on new PPE initiatives, mental health posters, diversity programs, contract reforms, and security upgrades. Each issue is treated as a separate fire to be extinguished, a leak to be plugged, a nuisance to be managed.

But what if I told you that all of these issues — all of them — stem from the same poisoned well? That there is a single remedy. A cure. A panacea to almost all the industry’s ills. And that panacea comes in a single word:

Respect.

Respect is not just politeness or the avoidance of cruelty. It is a foundational principle upon which sustainable, thriving industries are built. It is the understanding that every life on a job site matters — not because of regulations or insurance risks, but because behind every hard hat and high-vis jacket is a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a son, a daughter. Respect is realising that safety is not a box to tick but a duty of care owed to every human being who steps foot on a site.

When we truly respect the lives and wellbeing of our workers, safety improves. Investment in training and equipment becomes non-negotiable. Corners are not cut because cutting corners would mean disrespecting the trust our workers place in us every day.

Fatalities drop. Accidents drop. Families stay whole.

Respect also demands that we look hard at the mental health crisis we have allowed to fester. We cannot solve mental health struggles with a "toolbox talk" or a poster campaign. We cannot address crushing loneliness, burnout, addiction, and despair with another corporate newsletter.

Respect means creating real support structures, real counselling access, real understanding — not judgment, not ridicule, not forced silence. When workers feel respected, they are more likely to speak up before they reach the breaking point. When respect permeates an organisation, it stops being a source of silent suffering and starts becoming a place of solidarity, strength, and hope.

The suicide rate isn't just a statistic; it is a daily indictment of an industry that has too often mistaken toughness for cruelty, resilience for silence.

Respect demands that we acknowledge the imbalance of gender and race across the industry — not by posting a carefully staged photo of a lone woman or a minority worker once a year, but by dismantling the systems that have kept them excluded, undermined, and unrecognised. It means hearing the voices that have too long been shouted over. It means creating workplaces where anyone with skill, passion, and drive can thrive — without facing harassment, mockery, or second-guessing.

Diversity isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a MUST have. It in an industry survival mechanism. A diverse workforce brings diverse thinking, resilience, and adaptability — the very traits an evolving, challenged industry so desperately needs.

But diversity cannot flourish without respect at its root.

Respect even has a role in fixing the cut-throat competition that has hollowed out the heart of our industries. When we respect the work itself — when we recognise that skilled demolition and construction are arts, sciences, and crafts — we stop engaging in the race to the bottom. We stop undercutting to win at any cost. We stop celebrating the lowest bid instead of the best value.

Contracts should be built on fairness, not the desperate hope that someone will take the bait and figure out how to survive later. Employment terms should honour the fact that without workers, there is no project, no profit, no future. Respect leads to sustainable pricing, sustainable business practices, and, ultimately, a sustainable industry.

Even theft — that daily scourge of stolen tools, fuel, and machines — has its roots in disrespect. Disrespect for the property of others. Disrespect for the hard work that paid for that equipment. Disrespect for the shared goal of building something together instead of tearing each other down.

A culture of respect builds loyalty and pride.It makes the theft of a coworker’s tools not just a crime but a betrayal. It makes every worker a steward of the site, the equipment, the community.

Finally, respect is the answer to the silent queues we see — people leaving the industry faster than we can replace them.

You cannot attract the next generation of workers with money alone. You cannot lure them with promises of "opportunity" while offering a life of grind, danger, and disregard.

Young people today want — and deserve — to work where they are valued. Where they are heard. Where they can build careers, not just serve sentences.

Respect isn’t old-fashioned. It’s the most modern, radical, and necessary force we have. If we want to fill our sites tomorrow, we must build a culture of respect today.

We can have the safest boots, the highest fences, the toughest contracts, and the flashiest recruitment ads. But without respect, they are bandages on a severed limb.

They treat the symptoms, not the disease. They delay the collapse, but they do not prevent it.

Respect is not a cost. It is not a burden.

It is an investment in the future — and the return on that investment is survival, prosperity, pride, and human dignity.

There is much that ails the demolition and construction industry. But there is also much that could heal it.

Not through bureaucracy. Not through empty slogans. But through a simple, profound change in mindset.

Respect.

It starts with how we speak to one another. It grows in how we treat one another. It blooms in the policies we write, the standards we set, and the expectations we uphold.

One word. One cure. One solution.

As Aretha Franklin said: R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Respect.