Editor’s note: This story focuses on the topic of mental health and suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
Dive Brief:
- Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada has introduced legislation to prevent deaths by suicide among construction workers and to better understand the mental health crisis the industry faces, Cortez Masto’s office shared with Construction Dive.
- The Constructing the Path to Suicide Prevention Act would authorize Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to conduct a national study through The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The initiative would collect data on suicide risk factors construction workers face, then inform prevention strategies.
- When measured by industry, construction frequently has one of the highest rates of deaths by suicide. The fatality rate from suicide for construction was 43.2 per 100,000 workers in 2024, according to the most recent data from North America’s Building Trades Unions and CPWR — The Center for Construction Research and Training.
Dive Insight:
Should the bill pass, the CDC would study construction worker suicides by looking at employment, organizational and individual factors such as demographic information, specific type of construction work, union membership, health plan coverage and history of substance abuse, mental health diagnoses or physical injury.
Then, within three years of enactment, the health secretary would be required to submit a report on policy recommendations to address mental health risk factors for construction workers, according to the bill text.
“From our homes to our offices, our roads to our favorite coffee shops, construction workers are responsible for building America,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. “But work in this industry presents distinct mental health risks, and we owe it to construction workers to find solutions. This legislation will give us the tools we need to combat the tragically high rate of suicide among construction workers and work to end the stigma around mental health on the jobsite.”
The legislation is cosponsored by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Sen. Jeanne Shaheen D-N.H.; Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M.; Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; and Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.
The industry has itself launched initiatives to respond to the growing issues around worker mental health and the stigma that surrounds it.
In New York City, the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York launched the Building Trades Peer Support Network in March, training 1,000 rank-and-file members from 15 member unions to provide peer-to-peer support. The program sought to remove stigma with the mantra “It’s not weak to speak.”
Before that, in March 2024, Reston, Virginia-based contractor Bechtel pledged $7 million to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention — the largest such donation in the nonprofit’s history at the time.
The resulting partnership, dubbed “Hard Hat Courage,” announced it had reached 165,000 workers during Construction Suicide Prevention Week 2025. The goal is to reach half a million workers within six years.
This year’s Construction Suicide Prevention Week is slated for Sept. 14-18.
