Mental Health Code Focuses on Root Cause Prevention

A new Mental Health Joint Code of Practice (JCOP) is addressing the mental health crisis in construction, which sees a suicide rate for men in UK construction at nearly four times the national average.

Launched by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), the organisation commissioned University of Warwick researchers to shape the framework, which shifts the priority from awareness-raising to evidence-based prevention.

The Mental Health Joint Code of Practice isn’t about better support for struggling workers. It’s about preventing the stressors that harm them in the first place.

Mental Health Code

Warwick’s research identified five hazard areas

• Working patterns (long hours, shifts and excessive travel)
• People factors and environment (bullying, limited support and hierarchy)
• Operational factors (unachievable deadlines and poor planning)
• Support factors (stigma and baseline understanding of mental health)
• Financial Factors (late payment and job insecurity)

The JCOP framework is designed to address these five hazards. It is not intended to replace crisis support, which remains essential, but to shift the focus earlier, helping the industry identify hazards early, assess the risks and put proportionate interventions in place before harm occur. Leaders and businesses are invited to adopt it, use it, and improve it.

The code is aligned with HSE principles to shift strategy from crisis response to prevention at scale.

Stressors Building Up

“Visible signs of mental distress are often the ‘tip of the iceberg’,” said Dr. Charlotte Hills Research Fellow, Warwick Medical School. “Beneath them are systematic work-related stressors that build up. These stressors are predictable, such as long hours, poor communication, and job insecurity, and they can be prevented.

“The code advises not to wait until people are visibly struggling before acting. We must ‘go upstream’ to stop the stressors that create harm in the first place.”

Implementing Change

Implementing change, Timewise Construction was struggling with the impact of long hours, limited flexibility, and high fatigue on its staff. By adopting this system-level approach and changing team rostering and staggered start times, they saw a clear improvement to workers’ lives, with 83% of workers reporting they had enough time to care for their wellbeing (up from 48%)

A Project Manager said: “Working in a more agile way has not cost me or the project anything. Work is still getting done and people are getting to meet their own preferences too”

Dr. Carla Toro, Associate Professor in Mental Health Sciences at Warwick Medical School, and CLC Mental Health group member, said: “This JCOP focuses on the systems, not just the individuals. It asks the sector to apply the same discipline to mental health risk that it applies to physical safety risk. Where we identify, assess, control, monitor and improve, continuously.”

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