World Suicide Prevention Day 2025: Mental Health in Construction, A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight
By Desiree Blamey, Managing Director, Considerate Constructors Scheme. As appeared in CoStar on 10 September 2025.
10th September 2025
As we mark World Suicide Prevention Day today we must confront a devastating truth. Two construction workers in the UK die by suicide every single day. That is more than 700 lives lost each year, making suicide the leading cause of death in our sector. With a suicide rate more than four times the national average, construction faces a mental health emergency that demands urgent and coordinated action.
This crisis is not new, but it remains largely hidden. Long hours, financial instability, short-term contracts and chronic physical pain all contribute to a culture where stress is normalised and silence is expected. Many workers fear that speaking up will cost them their job or reputation. In fact, 91 per cent of construction workers have felt overwhelmed by mental health struggles and one in four have experienced suicidal thoughts.
This crisis demands more than compassion.
Considerate Constructors Scheme believes this crisis demands more than compassion. It demands accountability. Mental health must be treated as a core safety issue, not a side conversation. We have made progress in breaking stigma, but now we must embed mental wellbeing into the very structure of how our industry operates.
That is why we commissioned a landmark study to map the root causes of poor mental health in construction. Findings revealed a troubling disconnect. Many workers who report feeling fine also admit to suicidal thoughts when asked directly. This shows how deeply stigma runs and how urgently we need systemic change.
Here is what contractors and developers can do now:
- Make mental health risk assessments mandatory, just like fire safety checks
- Include wellbeing data in the Golden Thread, alongside structural and safety records
- Ensure pay security and fair contracts, reducing the financial stress that drives mental health decline
- Treat fatigue as a safety risk, with regulated shift hours and mandatory rest breaks
- Tie mental health compliance to procurement and insurance, rewarding firms that invest in wellbeing
Conclusion
This World Suicide Prevention Day, we call on government, insurers and industry leaders to act. Mental health must be regulated, monitored and incentivised just like physical safety. We have transformed site safety before. Now we must do the same for mental health.