Suicide prevention program launched for construction industry

The OzHelp Foundation (OzHelp) has launched the Health in Trades (HiT) training stream. Backed by over 20 years of experience, in-depth industry knowledge, extensive customer and client relationships and the voice of lived experience, the HiT program stream was developed to meet the evolving needs of the building and construction industry, supporting businesses and their people.

On average, approximately nine Australians die by suicide every day, 75% of which are men, with male construction workers consistently found to die by suicide at a higher rate compared to other male workers. OzHelp has a longstanding commitment to delivering health and wellbeing services to Australia’s building and construction industry, and HiT aims to provide further support to the industry. OzHelp’s Partnerships and Engagement Director, Caz Parish, said the shift in the minimum standards expected of employers in managing psychological risks in the workplace has led to employers playing an active role in preventing harm and providing care and support to their workers.

“Employers are looking beyond mental health advocacy and how as an organisation they can practically prevent psychological harm within the workplace through data-informed decision-making and targeted interventions that are tailored to their workers’ needs. We have developed evidence-based, scalable and accessible programs that assist employers in creating resilient, psychological safe workplaces by helping individual employees achieve their best possible mental health and wellbeing,” Parish said.

OzHelp is accredited under the Australian Government National Standards for Mental Health Services and many of the HiT program’s core initiatives received accreditation under the Suicide Prevention Australia Accreditation Program in 2022. Programs such as the Tradie Tune Up (onsite health checks), counselling and wellbeing support services and the Workplace Tune Up program were evaluated against six national suicide prevention standards to ensure that they are targeted, outcomes based and provide a high quality and safe standard of care.

Image credit: OzHelp Foundation