In Michigan, alarms grow over construction worker suicides; more help on way

LANSING – Mental health problems in a male-dominated industry – construction – are often overlooked, and its workers have disproportionately high suicide rates, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The agency says the suicide rate among construction workers is four times more than for adults in the general population. 

There are over 203,000 construction workers in Michigan, which reported 175 suicides, all men, among them in 2022. 

Tracey McLenon, the vice president of operations at the Construction Association of Michigan based in Bloomfield Hills, said a number of factors contribute to the higher-than-average suicide rate. Before joining the trade association, McLenon was involved in construction safety for about 20 years.

McLenon said men working in a male-dominated industry may be reluctant to ask for help.

Additionally, long hours and out-of-town work may contribute to depression within the field, she said. 

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“They’re away from their family for long periods of time. Some workers are what we would call travelers, which means they follow the work,” said McLenon.

“That’s pretty stressful, and a lot of negativity can float around as it relates to your mental health when you’re working remotely and removed from your family and your support system,” she said.

Most notable are the physical demands of construction jobs, which require workers to handle tools and be on their feet for long periods. 

Workers often suffer from on-the-job injuries, aches and pains, some of which don’t completely heal. McLenon said those injuries can contribute to substance abuse as a way to cope with the pain.

Substance abuse comes in different forms, ranging from a few too many beers after work to taking prescription drugs to combat the pain.

“We get banged up, and then I think the suicide issue is intertwined with drugs,” said Daryl Gallant, the director of LIUNA Training of Michigan, which has locations in Wayne, Iron Mountain, Detroit and Perry. It’s part of the Laborers’ International Union of North America which oversees seven local unions under its Michigan Laborers District Council.

“It’s like ‘I’m banged up, I go to the doctors, I get a painkiller.’ There’s the whole opioid crisis, things intertwined,” Gallant said.

Gallant said he believes the actual suicide rate may be higher than reported. 

According to the 2024 Michigan Suicide Prevention Commission Annual Report, suicide risk behaviors include increasing the use of substances, showing uncontrolled anger and isolating oneself. 

Construction suicide rates were among the highest of all reported occupations nationally at 67.8 per 100,000 workers.

“As long as there’s been construction workers, there’s been a connection between construction and substance use,” said Trevor Botkin, the community development manager at the Umbrella Society, a Canadian mental health support organization.

“We’re a culture of people that just absolutely do not pay attention to our mental health. We celebrate the suffering together. We love that. We work hard,” said Botkin, a former construction worker.

“You can have mental health challenges without the substance use, but you can’t have substance use without the mental health challenges,” said Botkin.

Safety measures in the workplace have historically centered around physical safety, such as workshops about fall protection, excavation and electrical safety. 

McLenon said the conversation now has widened to include mental health. 

The Construction Association of Michigan has done workshops and conferences on mental health in the industry. It plans to do another safety conference in December.

Gallant said he usually runs physical training but has run a few mental health trainings as well. 

He said the frequency of such training may depend on what is happening locally.

In March, four construction workers in Flint overdosed on fentanyl while working on a project. After the incident, Gallant said LIUNA was asked to hold a drug and alcohol awareness training, as well as suicide prevention training.

Before joining management at the Umbrella Society, Botkin spent over 20 years as a construction worker and has fought battles of his own.

“I’m five years clean from a very substantial substance use challenge, that almost being a suicide of my own,” said Botkin.

Now working at the mental health organization, Botkin said the apprenticeship form of teaching offers an opportunity to change the narrative around mental health in construction.

The Umbrella Society builds peer-to-peer support programs for organizations to run on their own, increasing mental health discussions in the workplace. Botkin says these are modeled for different employment sectors, including construction.

Such programs teach leaders to offer more support and conversation on job sites, he said.

He said leaders also need to foster supportive dialogs around mental health rather than the “suck- it-up mentality.”

This story was originally published by the Capital News Service