New NY Union Peer Network Brings Construction Suicide Prevention to Jobsites

Multi-trade effort aims to destigmatize mental health challenges and mitigate stress through risk across jobsites

The Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York (NYC BCTC) aims to curb high suicide rates across New York City’s unionized construction industry with the help of 1,000 peer supporters trained in conducting discreet mental health assessments as part of its new Building Trades Peer Support Network.

Launched early March in partnership with the Worker Institute at Cornell, NYC BCTC President Gary LaBarbera said the network is a “critical step toward treating mental health with the same seriousness as physical safety on our job sites.”

He added, “Far too many construction workers are lost each year to suicide, and this initiative recognizes that protecting our workforce and ensuring they return home to their families each day also means recognizing their mental health.”

Tackling a Troubling Trend

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that construction workers are six times more likely to die from suicide than from job site-related injuries and four times more likely to commit suicide than the average American, according to 2021 data. LaBarbera says the Building Trades Peer Support Network (BTPSN) initiative is designed to combat those rates as a scalable system offering interventions while ultimately shifting mindsets around mental health.

“Through the mobilization of a Peer Supporter Network across job sites in New York City, BCTC alongside Cornell and the New York Building Foundation, is giving workers the tools to look out for themselves and each other,” said LaBarbera.

The New York Building Foundation contributed around $125,000 toward the BTPSN’s conceptualization, including $55,000 delegated for program design and an additional $70,000 for ongoing curriculum development and training.

Jobsite ‘Eyes and Ears’

The Peer Support Network will operate under an established Advisory Committee comprised of MAP directors, BCTC staff, Cornell faculty and a clinician who will meet monthly to monitor, evaluate, and refine the program, explained LaBarbera.

Peer supporters are required to take a basic two-hour mental health class, open to general enrollment to reach as many union members as possible, followed by a an advanced seven-hour peer supporter course where supporters will be recruited by local union business managers with the advice from MAP directors. The Worker Institute at Cornell will be conducting training for both the peer supporters and MAP directors.

BTPSN’s peer supporters do not provide any form of direct support services or therapy for at-risk co-workers but are trained to be “eyes and ears on the jobsites” LaBarbera explained in comments to ENR. As fellow construction workers and union members across trade disciplines, peer supporters will assess and refer individuals who need help to the appropriate resources and any kind of leave or time off will be determined on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement.

“The multi-trade aspect of this program is a vital part of its success, as peer supporters will be trained to observe and assess workers of all kinds on a jobsite. For example, a peer supporter who is an electrician is not there just for fellow electricians. They can also support and assess a carpenter or an ironworker, etc.,” said LaBarbera.

Gaining Support

With additional costs expected as the network ramps up, LaBarbera says the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York is hoping to receive support from New York State to sustain and continue the expansion of the program.

"'It is not weak to speak' is a phrase used in relation to this peer support network, and this work being done to destigmatize mental health issues will transform our industry,” said Carlo Scissura, President and CEO of New York Building Congress in a press release. “For far too long, too many workers have needed help they could not find, but this program—spearheaded by Gary LaBarbera and the Building Trades and delivered by the Cornell Worker Initiative—will light the way for workers to find that help in each other."

At a national level, construction leaders have also thrown their support behind efforts to address high suicide rates in the construction industry, including the launch of the CEO Advisory Council last year, hosted at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, including C-suite executives from Bechtel, Fluor, Turner Construction, North America’s Building Trades Unions, Kiewit, Clark Construction and Skanska.

Emell Derra Adolphus has more than a decade of writing and journalism experience. He is senior editor of ENR’s Top Lists and Survey Rankings at ENR magazine and frequently contributes stories on technology, climate resiliency, diversity, equity and inclusion.