Mental Health Matters
Mental Health is a real concern in our industry, with construction workers greatly under-reporting issues which have an impact on them. Depression and anxiety account for the majority of mental health issues. And one in four people will have this kind of issue at some point in their life. The causes are complex but factors outside work such as relationship problems, financial worries, bereavement, or caring for family members can all contribute. Increased workloads, tight deadlines, longer travelling times, lack of support and bullying at work can also lead to these conditions.
Despite issues being reported frequently in other sectors, the construction industry has the lowest self-reported cases. These statistics are truly shocking, given two construction workers commit suicide every day. That means working in our industry you are six times more likely to die from suicide than from a fall from a height. The “tough guy” perception makes asking for help, talking about feelings and mental health extremely difficult. So much so that mental health in the construction industry has been deemed ‘the silent epidemic’.
Men in particular just don’t talk about this stuff at all. They suffer in silence with these struggles, or become highly skilled at covering up how they are feeling. A fear of embarrassment or perhaps being told to “man up” stops them getting much needed help. At SCI we are actively encouraging our staff to speak about it openly. And to regularly check in with their mates and colleagues to see that they are OK. We wanted to create an environment where people feel safe to talk about this.
Luckily, signposting colleagues to some great support resources was really simple.
To kick off our campaign, we created a newsletter which outlines some of the issues (above) and details the signs that show someone may need help, such as:
- lateness and absenteeism
- decreased productivity
- lack of self-confidence
- lack of enjoyment
- feeling isolated or withdrawing from activities
- agitation and volatility (with potential conflict)
- feeling overwhelmed or unenthusiastic to start or complete tasks
- increased reliance on alcohol or recreational drugs
- decreased problem-solving ability
Our newsletter also provides links to organizations such as Building Mental Health and Mates In Mind who can support staff when they need it most. The advice they provide is free and completely confidential. We’ve also suggested to our staff they could download the Construction Industry Helpline app to their phone. The app asks you to rate how you are feeling today and provides tasks, tools and contacts to help when things get tough. Confiding in a mate, partner, family member or GP are all excellent first steps too.
Discussing these issues with your GP may feel a little awkward at first, but they can offer practical help. This may be sickness certification, medication (if necessary), or many surgeries also now offer self referral for psychotherapy services. This therapy can be delivered in a number of ways – face to face, over the phone or via digital Mental Health programs such as Silver Cloud.
As a company we have two senior staff members who are the point contacts for any of our staff who may need this support. We are investing in awareness training and will introduce Mental Health Tool box talks, using slide decks from Building Mental Health.
There are also some informative videos which we have encouraged our colleagues to access
CROSSRAIL – Spotting the signs of Mental Health illness
WATES GROUP – Mental Health in Construction
We want to encourage our staff to view seeking support for mental health issues and taking care of their mental well-being to be as routine as any other health check.
Maybe if we all viewed it as emphasizing the “Health” in”Mental Health”, we would talk about it more?
Project Highlights
We are pleased to have worked with some of the most respected contracting and fit-out companies across the industry, including Overbury, Mace, ISG, Structuretone and McLaren. Our experience of working on BMS projects across London and the surrounding areas is extensive. Project highlights include major building management system installations for clients at Camden Town Hall Annexe, HAVAS, Microsoft, Amazon, Merchant Square, Deutsche Bank, Metropolitan Police and Unilever.
SCI is an agile company and renowned for its ability to react and adapt to our clients’ requirements and methods of working. The company comprises a multitude of dedicated skilled A-Fit personnel from our Administrators to our Directors, carefully selected through the company’s ongoing growth to meet the specific requirements of the quality delivery of our projects; and are the primary reason for our continued success and exacting standards.
Legislation and directives, such as Display Energy Certificates (DEC’s), Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), Energy Services Directive (ECD) and Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPDB) are at the heart of what we do. SCI are committed to developing bespoke building management solutions and services to our clients. As M&E systems have developed within buildings, so have the complexity of their control systems, and security requirements. The telemetry required to measure intricate performance has been a benchmark standard for buildings for a number of years. With the advent of full systems integration, we now face a paradigm of opportunity, such as intelligent monitoring of building M&E projects using data analysis and machine learning. SCI is already working on projects to deliver innovative plant performance with advanced networked analytics solutions, incorporating bespoke security features. Each consecutive opening of a valve, ramping of a fan, switching of a plant item, is analyzed for its measurable effect, providing an automated method of verifying the consistent, and holistic operation of a buildings services.
Through our long established reputation as a leading BMS provider we have successfully completed projects for blue chip organisations and leading consultants, principle contractors and M&E service providers.
McLaren
Crosstree Real Estate
Structuretone
Briggs & Forrester
Michael J Lonsdale
ISG
BW
Overbury
Mace
What We Offer
BMS systems will typically control and monitor a building’s security, ventilation and fire systems, but we also offer integrated Building Management Systems, including power and lighting control, Control Panel Design and Custom 3D graphics. Being preferred partners and system integrators for BMS management solutions from market leading companies such as Trend, Centraline, and KNX means you can have confidence in the products and service we provide. All our projects, from a £100,000 refurbishment to a £1.5million new build are allocated in-house Project Manager, Design, Procurement, Installation and Electrical/Engineering resources. We also offer Service and Maintenance of your building’s HVAC/BMS system.
Having a close relationship with BEMS manufacturers, and an active project flow, means we can drive competitive costings for all our projects. Our past performance and transparent project delivery has guaranteed us a steady contract pipeline, with over 80% repeat business. We are pleased to have worked with some of the most respected contracting and fit-out companies across the industry, including Overbury, and Structuretone. We frequently work with companies such as McLaren, Mace, ISG and Briggs, who all rank within the top 50 M&E contractors.
Most of our projects are in London and the Home Counties, and include large scale residential, accommodation, commercial and education buildings. Our portfolio features several office buildings, where our re-fit has improved energy efficiency by 20%.
BMS is our business – How can we help yours?
