An Interview with Martin Coyd OBE: Mental Health in the Construction Industry
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In November 2019 Vertemax’s Chief Operating Officer Jamie Russon had the pleasure of sitting down at Spinney House with industry voice Martin Coyd. An hour of discussion ensued with conversation focusing around the mental health environment in construction.
Martin Coyd: A Career Overview:
2000, started an apprenticeship at Health and Safety People for 18 months
Joined Skanska (at the time), for 12 years, with builds including The Gherkin
2001-2013, worked on Moor House as Health & Safety Manager
2013-2016, worked at Lendlease as Regional Head Environmental Health & Safety,
redeveloping Central London and converting Olympic Village into homes
and schools2016-2019, worked at Mace as Head of Environment, Health and Safety, working on
projects such as Tottenham Hotspur Football Stadium and Battersea Power StationTeam Manager of the England Wheelchair Rugby League Team
Why have you become an industry voice?
It was driven by the suicide of Terry Newton, the Rugby player, who took his own life at the age of 32. This led to other sportsmen speaking out about the pressures of life and their mental health challenges. As a result, I trained as a mental health first aider and instructor. Through this, I quickly realised that the pressures facing sportsmen were the same as the pressures faced by construction workers; they are judged all the time on performance (such as winning matches/delivering projects). However, sportsmen get down-time from these pressures through the off-season, but construction workers don’t. They are constantly thinking about and planning their next projects whilst delivering the current ones.
How do you perceive the current mental health environment in construction?
It’s a problem of epidemic proportions which was previously unknown. I don’t believe the prevalence of it has increased, but awareness of it has, which is a really good thing. But more work needs to be done.
Construction has a higher suicide rate than any other industry (according to an East Kent study). In March 2017, the Office of National Statistics survey showed that construction workers (unskilled and semi-skilled) had a suicide rate 3.7 times higher than the national average – the average is 108 per industry, meaning that there are around 400 suicides per year in construction. That’s 400 too many.
Mind, the mental health charity, reports that for every suicide, there are between 10 and 25 attempted suicides. At a quick calculation (400 x 25), that’s 10,000 attempted suicides per year by construction workers. Mind also highlights that around 1 in 4 people are impacted each year; people who may not be diagnosed with a mental illness, but nevertheless are struggling. With around 2.1 million construction workers in the UK, that’s 500,000 people who need some help. If we have 500,000 workers affected, there’s no doubt that this reduces their engagement in the workplace and impacts whether they can actively be part of the safety operations on site if their mind is elsewhere – be it from concerns around physical or mental health, money, fatigue, job security or other stressors.
“Mind indicated that 1 in 4 people struggle with their mental health every year meaning that over 500,000 construction workers struggle every year. If we have 500,000 affected, that will no doubt reduce their engagement in the workplace.”
How is the industry getting better at managing mental health issues?
More and more people are talking about it, which is a great step. Previously it was taboo due to a perception of ‘masculinity’ and the belief that you had to act in a certain way or pass things off as banter. There was an expectation that you turned up on time, didn’t care about the weather and just got on with work all day every day. The idea of telling somebody that you’re struggling didn’t cross people’s minds due to stigma, fear of discrimination and concern of being ostracised.
Change is coming. The great news is that the way we’re talking about it has evolved. It’s now discussed by people who are well-respected, including lots of athletes. This is beginning to change the culture where being open about mental well-being is not seen as weakness but an act of courage. We’re starting to see mental health in the same way as physical health.
It’s like turning a super tank around to undo centuries of embedded behaviour. The Lighthouse Club, a voluntary helpline and app, does an excellent job providing a confidential contact for people in the construction industry who may be going through tough times. Their figures show increased calls year-on-year, alongside increased help to those who call. This increased provision of mental first aid support (listening) in confidence is encouraging, as are the increasing number of channels available for advice, such as the Construction News Mind Matters survey, Samaritans, Mind and Papyrus.
Most importantly, talking about things doesn’t necessarily mean you have a requirement for diagnosis or treatment, you may just be in a bad space at that time and need to talk things through. The opportunity to offload means you can start taking steps to get better.
Who is responsible for mental health in the workplace?
The answer is 3-fold. First and foremost, it’s the employer’s responsibility to lead the change, through the creation of policy and processes that support those that speak up and those that need help. Secondly, line managers and supervisors are responsible for giving their team the confidence to talk about things. They can directly impact whether or not the working environment is good, with appropriate levels of break and wellbeing days.
Employees have a responsibility too, to look after themselves and others, by engaging, participating and contributing. Even simply asking ‘How do you feel?’ can unearth unknown stressors which may link back to why someone has been late to work or not as efficient as usual.
It’s a combination of all of these things to work together to hit the sweet spot, underpinned by the support of charities such as The Lighthouse Club.
What can we do at Vertemax?
I’ve known Vertemax products for a long time and you’re out there as the leaders. It’s a primary concern to think about mental health and capabilities, particularly when working at height. The Spaghetti mat, Alsipercha and elebia hook are great inventions BUT if your workforce aren’t engaged and part of a safe solution, things can go wrong. A user can’t just rely on the equipment being there and therefore assume that it’s safe. There needs to be a deeper level of understanding, confidence and clarity to ensure that all equipment is used safely – and this goes hand in hand with the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of the team.
Where do you see the future of health & safety and mental health going in the next 10 years?
In its current state, the industry itself is a barrier as a whole. Broadly, they are using the same techniques that have been around for years. We’re seeing many other industries evolve around mental health & wellbeing, but construction is different in its resistance to evolution.
The more diverse the team, the more effective it is, and this is regardless of the industry. People in construction tend to recruit in their own image, meaning diversity is never truly achieved. Differences in age, race, religion, ability and disability all need to be embraced.
1 in 20 workers are disabled, whether this is visible or not. Making sure that the workplace is safe, dignified and equitable ensures everyone’s on an equal playing field, as this reduces some additional stressors.
Addressing the two items above will help to break down barriers and make the workplace a more inclusive and thus ‘open’ place to be.
In terms of legislation, conversations with the Chief Executive of mental health first aid England led to us getting The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 amended; this brought in the first aid box and accident books. Further amendments need to include mental aid as well as physical.
The HSE website now includes guidance that employers should consider having mental health provision on top of their physical first aid. It is difficult, as mental health is still ‘hidden’ much of the time, and there are no industry-mandated next steps to follow for each possible scenario. That said, mental health first-aiders have the role of listening and sign-posting the individual in the direction to get help. They are trained to assess any risk, give reassurance and get help.
Ultimately, legislation is a foundation and a small catalyst for change. In isolation it won’t make the difference – you have to have a will which comes from awareness and education rather than legislation. Construction workers need more support in knowing that help is available for them.
But let’s not forget – according to Building & Civil Engineering Pension (B&CE), 94% of those in the construction industry work in organisations of less than 10 people. 50% of these are self-employed or agency workers. A company of less than 10 indicates there is no compulsory HR or medical support, workers need to be looked after differently. Due to the nature of the construction industry being fast-moving and contracts-based, its often hard to achieve that sense of belonging and being looked after.
People moving from job to job each week need a consistent contact which follows them between jobs. This contact will be used to monitor long-term health changes by tracking gradual changes in health issues, providing an outlet to discuss mental health concerns.
Leaders often don’t recognise that taking time out and walking the project whilst discussing anything other than work is really powerful. I push for project managers to do every induction for new starters instead of playing a video or PowerPoint presentation. This adds accessibility and can have conscious and unconscious effects – ‘somebody cares about me’.
After implementing this small step, I found that the next employee engagement survey had outstanding improvements to scores about the organisation leads. As a direct result of this, absence rates went down, duration of sickness down, there was reduced employee churn, productivity and quality of work and safety performance increased. It’s all about the power of embracing diversity and difference on site, that helps the wider workforce see themselves as important and worthy of support.
In summary, it’s clear that people are the solution. We can all be a part of making things better. We need more engagement with people, and a more structured agreement on the rules on how to generate respect. If people feel respected, trusted, engaged and are made to feel like they can influence their working day & mindset, and all under-pinned with a support network in place, things will just keep improving for the industry.
