Primary and Secondary Order Problems – Mental Health in Construction

It is no secret New Zealand is not leading globally when it comes to addressing issues with mental health. So much of our national character has been rooted in stoicism, the archetypal Kiwi man who pulls on his gumboots, turns his collar to the wind and gets on with it without complaining. This is an admirable way to be, no doubt. It is probably why New Zealand has the reputation we do of punching above our weight and working hard. It is probably why when a young Kiwi chippie lands in Heathrow airport on the OE, he may well be getting job offers before he has cleared customs.

It is also become self-evident though that this mindset means men bottle up their problems and often become very unhappy. The construction industry unfortunately leads these statistics by staggering margins. Everyone talks about site safety, but the inconvenient truth is suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50, and construction workers are approximately four times more likely to be represented in these statistics.

It is a serious problem, that must be addressed on both an industry and societal level. As a company SGB is committed to accepting and talking about this reality.

On a purely practical level, the issue of men’s mental health needs addressing. As builders, we are practical people who try to find solutions to problems. Key to problem solving is recognising what is a primary or secondary problem. For instance, a problem could be that too much money was being spent on hardware for a site. If this was because the site was messy, and nobody could find the existing hardware, then this would be the primary problem, and trips to the hardware store a secondary effect. It is also known as causes and symptoms.

When people behave in a dysfunctional manor, it is problematic. People can be late, or irritable, or lose the ability to take pride in their work. They can get burnt out and add to the spread of low morale. Often these are all secondary problems stemming from less than ideal mental health. To say nothing of the principled reasons to support the team’s mental health, from a purely business perspective, SGB see’s access to counselling services for staff as a way to address a primary problem in our industry. Men in construction struggle to make time for mental health, and so we would like to remove any stigma by reframing it as a form of personal maintenance. By forming partnerships with organisations such as Mates in Construction and providing access to qualified councillors, we hope to have all staff happy and healthy, and everyone reaping those benefits on the worksite.