International Men’s Day 2025: Breaking the Silence on Mental Health in Construction

LPL CONSTRUCTION mental health in construction

19 November marks International Men’s Day, a time to recognise the positive contributions men make to society, while also shining a light on the health challenges they face. For construction, an industry where four in five suicides are by men and suicide remains the biggest cause of death for men under 35, it is a day that carries particular weight.

Behind every project, every shift, and every site handover are men who may be carrying invisible pressures. Over the last decade, an estimated 7,000 construction workers have taken their own lives. These are fathers, sons, brothers, colleagues and friends. Skilled professionals who helped build our infrastructure, airports, schools and communities – but who felt they had nowhere to turn when they needed help themselves.

At LPL Construction Services, we see this not as a distant statistic, but as a call to action. That’s why we’ve taken time to evaluate the Chartered Institute of Building’s (CIOB) new 2025 report, Understanding Mental Health in the Built Environment, and to reflect on what it means for our people, our industry, and the way we operate.

 

A Crisis We Can’t Ignore

The mental health challenge in construction has been well documented for several years.

The original CIOB 2020 report highlighted the scale of the problem, revealing that:

  • 26% of construction professionals had thought about taking their own life in the previous year
  • 97% had experienced stress
  • 87% had experienced anxiety
  • 70% had experienced depression
  • 56% worked for organisations with no mental health policy

Combined with other research, we can see a consistent, troubling picture: many workers are struggling, and many companies historically were not equipped to support them.

The 2025 CIOB report updates that picture – and while it shows some positive movement in awareness and support, the underlying levels of poor mental health remain extremely high.

Across the workforce in 2025:

  • 94% reported stress
  • 90% reported anxiety
  • 86% reported fatigue
  • 60% reported poor concentration
  • 27% had thought about suicide in the last year

In 2024 alone, 355 people working in skilled construction and building trades died by suicide in England and Wales – one of the highest figures of any occupational group.

These are not marginal issues. They go to the heart of how our industry works, and how we look after the people who keep it running.

What’s Changed Since the 2020 Report?

One of the strengths of the 2025 CIOB study is that it allows us to compare today’s landscape with 2020, and to see not just what is wrong, but what is changing.

More People Are Struggling, More Often

The frequency of people experiencing poor mental health has increased in several areas. The most striking shift is in poor concentration:

  • In 2020, 18% reported poor concentration daily or weekly
  • By 2025, that figure had jumped to 48%
  • For a safety-critical industry, where focus is essential to avoid accidents, that should concern every employer.

The report also notes notable proportions of workers experiencing stress, anxiety, fatigue and depression on a daily basis, not just occasionally. This suggests a rise in chronic strain rather than one-off events.

Awareness and Support Have Improved

There is, however, genuine progress in how organisations are responding:

  • The proportion of companies with Mental Health First Aiders has risen from 35% to 54%
  • Access to helplines/EAPs has increased from 38% to 54%
  • Mental health awareness activities (such as campaigns or events) have jumped from 26% to 77%
  • Flexible working arrangements have increased from 38% to 50%

This tells us that mental health is now firmly on the agenda in many businesses, and the old taboo around simply talking about it is slowly being challenged.

Why Construction Is Under Such Pressure

The CIOB research sets out clearly why mental health issues are so prevalent in construction – and the reasons will feel familiar to anyone in the sector.

The nature of the work plays a major role:

  • Limited-term contracts and job insecurity
  • Long hours and long commutes
  • Time spent away from family and support networks
  • The constant pressure to hit deadlines and stay within budget
  • Physically demanding work and site-based isolation

Then there is industry culture. The reports underline what many already know: a persistent “macho” culture in construction, where admitting vulnerability or asking for help is often perceived as weakness. Those traditional expectations of how men are “supposed” to behave can make it incredibly difficult to talk about mental health, let alone say “I’m not okay” or “I need support.”

On top of this sit the organisational and commercial pressures:

  • High levels of stress due to unrealistic deadlines, time pressure and cost constraints
  • Poor communication and lack of involvement in decisions
  • Financial uncertainty, especially within SMEs tackling late payments and cashflow issues

The result is a workforce under sustained psychological strain – and too often, feeling like they need to deal with it alone.

The Workplace Realities That Matter

What makes the CIOB research so valuable is that it breaks down stressors by environment and role. For those working on site, everyday conditions can significantly shape mental wellbeing.

Many workers report:

  • Inadequate or insufficient toilet facilities
  • High noise levels
  • Poor temperature control
  • Uncertainty of working location
  • Lack of suitable break spaces

Women in construction, in particular, report far higher stress levels associated with welfare provision such as toilet facilities and privacy. These are not trivial inconveniences – they affect dignity, comfort, and whether people feel respected at work.

Organisationally, the report highlights how lack of communication, inadequate staffing, bullying, and exclusion from decision-making can push stress levels even higher. For many construction workers, these are everyday experiences, not exceptions.

A New Lens: Neurodiversity and Differing Experiences

One of the most important additions in the 2025 CIOB report is the explicit inclusion of neurodivergent workers – a dimension not captured in the 2020 study.

Around a quarter of respondents identified as neurodivergent (including ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia), and their experiences are often more challenging:

  • They report higher stress from noise, temperature, and poor communication
  • Over half say working in construction has made their mental health worse

Younger workers are also more likely to identify as neurodivergent, suggesting both greater awareness and greater openness among the next generation entering the industry.

This recognition is a positive sign that the culture is shifting – we are beginning to understand that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to working conditions, communication and support doesn’t work. Different people process environments in different ways, and good employers need to respond to that.

The Decision-Maker Disconnect

Another important insight is the difference in how stress is experienced at different levels of seniority.

Senior managers, often office-based, report significantly lower levels of stress from site-related conditions such as noise, temperature and welfare facilities. Supervisors and operatives, who are exposed to these conditions daily, report far higher levels of strain.

This isn’t about blame – it’s about exposure. Those making decisions about programmes, resourcing or welfare often don’t experience the full reality of site working conditions. Without deliberate effort to close that gap, there’s a risk of well-intentioned decisions that simply don’t reflect what people on site actually need.

For us at LPL, this reinforces the importance of visible leadership on site, direct conversations with teams, and feedback loops that go beyond formal reports.

Small Changes, Big Impact: The “Easiest Wins”

Some pressures in construction are genuinely hard to remove: tight programmes, complex logistics, and the reality that work needs to be delivered safely, on time and within budget.

But the CIOB research also highlights several simple, low-cost interventions that can make a huge difference to mental health and wellbeing:

  • Awareness Activities: Organise mental health awareness events, such as World Mental Health Day, toolbox talks, or sharing resources like posters and infographics. ​ These are cost-effective and help reduce stigma.
  • Accessible Toileting Facilities: Ensure adequate, clean, and accessible toilet facilities to reduce stress and improve worker comfort. ​
  • Dedicated Break Areas: Provide proper catering facilities and break areas where workers can relax, eat, and recharge during their shifts.
  • Mental Health First Aiders: Train employees as Mental Health First Aiders to provide initial support and guidance to colleagues in need. ​
  • Clear Communication: Improve communication channels to ensure workers feel informed, valued, and supported. ​ Regular team meetings and updates can help. ​
  • Signposting Resources: Share free mental health resources and helplines in visible areas like breakrooms, toilets, and meeting rooms. ​
  • Encourage Open Conversations: Foster a culture of openness by encouraging employees to check in with colleagues and ask, “Are you okay?” ​
  • Fatigue Management: Assess fatigue risks on a project-by-project basis, considering specific job demands and conditions to ensure appropriate controls are in place. ​
  • Leadership Training: Provide mental health training for managers to help them identify and address employee concerns effectively.

None of these require significant capital investment. What they require is attention, intention and consistency.

Why This Matters for Business, Not Just Morale

There is a clear human case for tackling mental health in construction. There is also a very strong business case.

The CIOB and other national studies estimate that poor mental health costs UK employers tens of billions each year through sickness absence, reduced productivity and staff turnover.

For construction specifically:

  • Fatigue and poor concentration increase accident risk and rework
  • Stress and burnout drive people out of the industry at a time of major skills shortages
  • Reputationally, how we treat people is increasingly visible to potential recruits and clients

At LPL, we can see the benefits of investing in wellbeing reflected in our own numbers. We enjoy an employee retention rate significantly above the construction sector average, and lower sickness absence than the national norm. When people feel looked after, they are more likely to stay, to perform and to speak positively about where they work.

LPL’s Response: Turning Insight Into Action

At LPL Construction Services, we do not see the CIOB reports as abstract documents; we see them as practical guidance for how we should evolve.

Partnership with Lighthouse Club

We are proud partners of the Lighthouse Club, the construction industry charity that offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to all LPL staff and subcontractors. This isn’t simply a logo on our website – it is a lifeline available to anyone in our extended team who needs to talk, at any time.

Professional Mental Health Support

To complement this, we provide:

  • Bespoke counselling services, fully funded by LPL
  • A free and confidential 24-hour GP service for all PAYE employees
  • Monthly meditation and mindfulness sessions led by trained local practitioners
  • A free Employee Assistance Scheme offering guidance on stress, debt, family issues and more

These services are designed to remove practical barriers to seeking help – cost, access, and stigma.

Building Internal Capacity: Mental Health First Aiders & Training

Over the last 12 months we have significantly strengthened our internal capability:

  • Increased our Mental Health First Aiders from 2 to 7, giving us a strong ratio across the business
  • Delivered 217 hours of mental health training
  • Trained 112 people (LPL staff and subcontractors) in Bronze Mental Health First Aid awareness
  • Trained 18 people in Mental Health Awareness via iHASCO
  • Trained 8 managers in “Mental Health for Managers”
  • Trained 17 site operatives in Construction Mental Health

This is about equipping people at all levels – from site operatives to senior managers – with the knowledge to recognise signs of distress, have better conversations, and signpost support.

Closing the Communication Gap

We know from the CIOB findings that poor communication and lack of involvement in decision-making are major stressors. To tackle this, we have embedded multiple touchpoints for dialogue across our business:

  • Senior Management Tours – 15 project visits in 2024, with a target of 20 in 2025. These are not formal audits but opportunities for open discussion, questions and feedback directly with leadership.
  • Health, Safety and Environmental Inspections – 240 site inspections in 2024, with a target of 264 in 2025, combining safety monitoring with conversations about workload and site conditions.
  • Business-as-usual engagement – daily project briefings, toolbox talks, end-of-shift briefings, team meetings, RAMS briefings, appraisals and feedback sessions form part of our standard way of working.

All of this sits within our ISO-certified Business Management System (ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001), which ensures consistency, accountability and continual improvement across health, safety and wellbeing.

Getting the Basics Right

We also recognise that strong policies and partnerships are only credible if the basics are in place. That means:

  • Providing welfare facilities on our sites
  • Ensuring workers have suitable break areas
  • Paying close attention to environmental factors such as noise and temperature where we can influence them
  • Responding to feedback from site teams on where we can improve day-to-day conditions

When people see that their feedback leads to tangible changes, trust grows – and so does willingness to speak up.

What International Men’s Day Means to Us

International Men’s Day is not about suggesting men have it “harder” than others. It is about recognising that male mental health is in crisis, particularly in sectors like construction, and that long-held ideas of what it means to “be a man” are part of the problem.

For too long, strength has been equated with silence – with “just getting on with it”, regardless of how people feel inside. We believe it’s time to redefine strength.

Real strength is:

  • Admitting when you’re struggling
  • Asking for help when you need it
  • Supporting colleagues who are going through a tough time
  • Creating environments where vulnerability is met with compassion, not judgement

Our Mental Health First Aiders, our managers who have undergone mental health training, and our senior leaders who are prepared to talk openly about wellbeing – these are the kinds of role models we want to encourage. People who show that you can be tough enough to build complex infrastructure and still be human enough to say, “I need support.”

A Call to the Industry

The CIOB reminds us that when the construction industry decided to tackle physical safety, it did so with determination – and the results were transformative. Deaths and serious injuries from accidents fell dramatically when we collectively treated safety as non-negotiable.

Today, more construction workers die by suicide than from falls from height. That is a stark, uncomfortable truth.

It is time for us to treat mental safety with the same seriousness as physical safety.

  • For companies, that means having clear policies, proper training, visible support and a willingness to listen.
  • For clients, it means recognising mental health as part of social value and rewarding contractors who invest in their people.
  • For government and industry bodies, it means using evidence like the CIOB reports to shape policy, guidance and funding.
  • For individuals, it means checking in on colleagues, using support services, and challenging cultures that shame people into silence.

Remember: It’s Okay Not to Be Okay

If you’re struggling – on site, in the office, or at home – you are not alone, and help is available:

  • Lighthouse Club Construction Industry Helpline: 0345 605 1956 (24/7, free, confidential)
  • Samaritans: 116 123 (24/7)
  • CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably): 0800 58 58 58 (5pm–midnight, 7 days a week)

For LPL staff and subcontractors, you can also speak to any of our Mental Health First Aiders, your line manager, or access our confidential counselling, GP and Employee Assistance services. You won’t be judged. You will be supported.

Our Promise

As we mark International Men’s Day 2025 and reflect on the CIOB’s latest findings, we reaffirm our commitment at LPL Construction Services:

  • To keep listening to our people
  • To keep improving our support
  • To keep challenging stigma and silence
  • To keep treating mental health as a core part of safety, not a side issue

Because construction needs good people – and good people deserve support.

No project is worth a life.