Mates in Construction Induction Day Connects Workers
Paynters had a fantastic turn out for a recent Mates in Construction General Awareness Induction training day. Our Whitsunday Coast Airport site team & subcontractors received this training last week, which aims to educate employees about those struggling with trigger life events. The induction explains how employees can get involved to become a “connector” within the industry, to become an advocate for suicide prevention.
“Every year 190 Australians working in the construction industry take their own lives, this means we lose a construction worker every second day to suicide.”
From this induction, our resident Site Foreman, Sean Richardson accepted the task of becoming a connector, volunteering his time yesterday alongside local Whitsunday Regional Council employees.
By becoming a Connector Sean will be a site ‘go-to’ person when someone is doing it tough. A connector will approach a worker & be able to put them in contact with the appropriate people. Sean said, “the information from this training was fantastic & I’ve learnt how to approach troubled work mates in a different way.”
Sean now has the opportunity to complete the ASSIST worker training which will equip him with the necessary information to talk to a person contemplating suicide, with the object of making this person “safe”. Using simple skills an ASSIST worker will listen to the persons’ concerns and respond to them appropriately with the object of reaching a “contract” or a “safe plan” for the worker.
MATES in Construction values the 7,571 construction workers who have volunteered their time to become a Connector or ASSIST worker. If you think this is something you could be interested in please follow the link https://matesinconstruction.org.au/get-involved/training/
If you or someone you love is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mates in Construction on 1300 642 111 or the Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.
