Construction project risk and value management
Health and safety management
The BEAM Research Centre offers expertise on health and safety management through teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, academic research, and outreach and collaboration with industry. This expertise has been recognised by regular collaboration with IOSH, HSE, and HFS.
BEAM's Health and Safety Management Research Repository documents the outputs of projects where this expertise has been applied, in addition to providing access to the field's key documents.
For inquiries on topics relating to health and safety management contact Professor Billy Hare.
Suicide Rates: Construction Occupations (England and Wales) 2015 - 2022
Professor Billy Hare, GCU BEAM Research Centre, Glasgow
The number of suicides attributed to construction occupations in 2022 is 514, most of which are male (509). This figure constitutes a rise of seven from the previous year and 16 more than the previous five-year average. This is against a backdrop of steady employment numbers for 2022. The suicide rate for construction occupations in 2022 is 30.99 per 100,000. This is approximately three times the UK average (10.7) and about twice the male rate (16.4) for the same period. The rate for 2022 continues to see a rising trajectory for the occupations analysed.
Management and professional occupations have had the lowest rates of death by suicide since 2015, and have been on a downward trajectory, despite a spike in 2021. The rate for skilled workers has been gradually increasing from a low of 27.8 in 2015, to 34.94 in 2022, whilst 'plant and process' and 'unskilled' workers are increasing at a higher rate, despite falling slightly the previous year. Unskilled workers, predominately general labourers and ground workers, remain the highest at 78.18 for 2022.
These figures are based on Office for National Statistics (ONS) suicide and employment data. Unfortunately, ONS Standard Occupation Codes (SOC) cover families of occupations that can span multiple industries, for example, forklift drivers can work in warehouses, shipping terminals and elsewhere outside of construction. Therefore using occupation codes that span multiple industries can overestimate the numbers.
The data used for this analysis only includes occupations considered to be almost certainly construction-based, and for this reason the sample accounts for about 77% of the construction population in England and Wales. Employment data has been difficult to align for 2022 as it is based on SOC 2020 occupations, while the suicide numbers are based on SOC 2010 occupations.
Some adjustments and estimates have been made to account for this and the rates should be treated with caution. The 2021 employment figures were also recalculated due to changes in ONS employment data collection. Ongoing updates by ONS mean future analysis may not be relatable to previous years.