Summer 2026 - Flipbook - Page 31
Workers respond most strongly to leaders
who listen, engage, and model vulnerability, whereas the barriers that continue and
must be actively addressed are still: ego;
reluctance to speak up; and lack of time for
meaningful check-ins.
Session 2 – Administrative Controls and
System Design
This session highlighted that structured
systems and policies play a critical role in
reducing psychological harm. Evidence
shows significantly higher rates of
suicide and substance-related harm in
construction compared to other sectors.
Therefore, administrative controls such as
fatigue management, structured incident
response, and return-to-work processes
can meaningfully reduce the risk.
The conclusions from session two
noted that systems, not intent, determine
outcomes.
We also found that mental health
recovery is non-linear and requires 昀氀exible
policies. The session also uncovered that
there is a gap between awareness and
implementation across organizations since
they lack the internal expertise to interpret
psychosocial data and act on it effectively.
We discovered that a large hindrance to
recovery and support are systemic barriers,
including compensation frameworks and
organizational complexity. And lastly, we
were informed that framing mental health
in terms of business outcomes strengthens
leadership engagement.
Session 3 – Worker-Level Controls and
Early Intervention
The third installment noted that overall,
the industry demonstrates strong
willingness to support peers, but lacks
the tools, training, and confidence needed
to act effectively. Mental health and
substance use must be understood as
continuums rather than binary conditions,
with most risks occurring before the actual
crisis stages.
The lessons learned from this session
indicated that early intervention and
peer support models provide the greatest
opportunity for impact. We heard how
underreporting re昀氀ects cultural silence
rather than lower incidence rates and that
effective approaches require layered training and scalable models for all organization sizes.
There is no “one size 昀椀ts all” approach,
but instead we learned that shifting from
a help-seeking culture to a help-offering
culture is essential to success. Further-
OGCA.CA
more, leadership hesitation and discomfort
with language continue to limit progress.
Session 4 – Crisis Response, Recovery,
and Return-to-Work
This session reinforced that recovery
is a long-term, non-linear process that
requires sustained support systems,
particularly peer-based support.
Treatment pathways exist but are
inconsistently accessed, particularly by
small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs). Lastly, confidentiality is essential
to building trust and ensuring workers use
available supports.
The learning outcomes from session 4
included the notion that training alone is
insuf昀椀cient without supporting infrastructure and that these systems must
balance accountability with compassion
and support. Peer support plays a critical
role in bridging the gap between crisis
and recovery and organizations must
emphasize treatment and recovery pathways alongside enforcement policies. This
includes the notion that “return-to-work”
must be treated as part of recovery, not the
昀椀nal endpoint since support of the worker
in crisis is key.
support to reduce stigma.
Sustainable progress will require
aligning leadership, systems, and culture.
Psychological health and safety must be
embedded into the same operational,
strategic, and governance structures as
physical safety.
Recommendations:
1. Mandate integration of psychological
health and safety into enterprise safety
systems
2. Prioritize development of leadership
capability and peer support structures
3. Establish clear metrics and data
frameworks to measure progress
4. Support cross-industry collaboration
and alignment initiatives
5. Ensure strategies explicitly include small
and medium-sized enterprises
Hopefully, for those of you seeking
assistance, this provides a starting point.
It is not simple, but necessary and with
proper coordinated systems, tools, and
integration, the construction industry can
clearly demonstrate how much we support
psychological health and safety as much as
we do physical health and safety.
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Session 5 – Integration and Industry
Alignment
The final session focused on integrating
psychological health and safety into core
operations and advancing industrywide solutions. The construction
industry recognizes that significant
systemic challenges remain, including:
inconsistent accommodation practices;
data fragmentation; and limited reach to
smaller employers.
Instead, we learned that psychological health must be embedded in daily
operations and leadership practices and
that coordination across organizations is
required to scale solutions effectively.
Consequently, the fear of job loss
remains the primary barrier to disclosing
an issue with leadership. This, coupled
with the error of assigning mental health
responsibility to a single role without
broader system integration is ineffective.
We found that evidence-based, sector-speci昀椀c approaches are critical to achieving
a positive and measurable impact on this
issue.
What this 昀椀ve-part series uncovered
for the industry is that organizations must
take the approach of increased openness
and willingness to discuss mental health,
through the use of storytelling and peer
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Suicide Prevention Toolkit
For more information on
suicide prevention, scan
the QR code to access
IHSA’s Suicide
Prevention Toolkit.
Speaker Contact Information
Looking to connect with
the speakers? Scan the
QR code to view contact
information for participants
in the five-part series.
SUMMER 2026 • the generals 31
