Suicide Rate High Among Construction Workers

According to the United States’ Centers for Disease Control, workers in the construction industry have the second-highest suicide rate of all occupational groups. Researchers examined 12,000 suicides in 17 states from 2012 and found that farming, fishing, and forestry workers had the highest rate (84.5 per 100,000 workers), followed by construction and extraction (53.3) and installation, maintenance, and repair (47.9).

In the United Kingdom, the Office for National Statistics released an in-depth report on suicide by occupation between 2011 and 2015. Those statistics showed the risk of suicide for those working in the construction trades was 1.6 times higher than the national average, and the risk in the roofing industry was a staggering 2.7 times higher than the UK average. Unskilled workers were most at risk.

— CDC & www.nfrc.co.uk