To help employers establish guidelines to create a healthy workplace, ABC has provided a toolkit for leaders to review and start making healthy changes. Scan the QR code to download the toolkit. https://www.abc.org/Portals/1/ Total%20Human%20Health/Total%20 Human%20Health%20Initiative%20 Toolkit%20FINAL%2005082024. pdf?ver=Q6XeEZvXxOZxrudau2imWQ%3d%3d There are also assessment tools that management teams can fill out to determine areas where improvement is needed. Scan the QR code to download the assessment tools. https://nationalconnections.abc.org/ Portals/10/Documents/ABC%20Total%20 Human%20Health%20Assessment-FINAL_ UPDATED_LOGO.pdf?ver=2021-10-20-133454710×tamp=1634751497771 Scan the QR code to download free informational posters for use in the workplace. https://www.preventconstructionsuicide.com/ posters Help is within reach: • Visit www.preventconstructionsuicide.com. • National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. › Call or text 988. › Visit 988lifeline.org. • Crisis Text Line. › Text HOME to 741741. › Visit www.crisistextline.org. • Visit screening.mhanational.org for a free and confidential mental health screening. The Total Human Health Initiative encompasses multiple dimensions of health and is organized into four simple and easy-to-remember categories: Body, Heart, Mind and Soul. Total Human Health is focused on building a resilient workforce connected through relationships and engaged in performing construction work to a high standard of safety, quality and effectiveness. The workforce is our most important resource, with individuals who are highly skilled and ready to build the places where America lives, learns, works, heals, plays and prays. We cannot achieve anything without our workforce. The driving imperative behind Total Human Health in our labor-intensive industry is twofold: 1. Address the changing demographics of the workforce and the workforce shortage in the skilled trades. 2. Work to reduce the high suicide rate among construction workers. Employers should incorporate mental health protections to prevent suicide in the workplace. Perhaps the easiest way to communicate the earnestness with which your company addresses suicide prevention is to make sure they see that you do. You can easily do this with posters strategically placed in breakrooms, kitchens, restrooms, hallways and other communal spaces. The message does not have to be grand in nature nor elaborate in design; simply post something like the graphic at the bottom of the page. Something else to consider is suicide postvention. Postvention is described as the provision of crisis intervention and other support after a suicide has occurred to address and alleviate possible effects of suicide. The impact of traumatic events often leads people to react impulsively in ways that might cause further damage. It is vital to stabilize your workforce as soon as possible to facilitate a return to what will undoubtedly be a “new normal.” While suicides do not usually happen at work, this does not mean they cannot or that the construction industry is not suffering substantially. Implementing any — or all — of the suggestions outlined in this article can go a long way to making your business and the construction industry more prepared to prevent, or in the event of, a tragedy.
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