Suicide is everyone’s business.

OM Civil recently had the pleasure of welcoming Phil Hortz to our project site in Ormeau, where he gave a presentation to our team about mental health.

Phil is a support worker at MATES in Construction – a charity established in 2008 to reduce the level of suicide among Australian construction workers.

Those in the industry, particularly young people, are up to 2.38 times more likely to take their own life than the average Australian man. By encouraging dialogue between workers, providing advice on how to help others through difficult times, and offering training and support programs, MATES are actively helping to reduce suicide.

Following this initial session, eight of our staff will undertake an additional program with MATES in Construction called Connector Training. This equips people on-site with the tools to help others in a crisis, while at the same time connecting them to professional help.

Watch the video below to learn more about MATES in Construction, and be sure to visit their website for further information.

If you or your family member is in the construction industry and you need someone to talk to, contact MATES in Construction’s 24/7 support line on 1300 642 111.

Additional Mental Health Resources

For Lifeline Crisis Support call 13 11 14

For Suicide Call Back Service call 1300 659 467

If there is an immediate risk of harm to yourself or others, call 000

Video Transcript:

Hey, guys, how are you? I’m Phil Hortz, I’m with Mates in Construction.

Did you know a male person in our industry, the construction industry is three times more likely to suicide than Joe Blow out on the street? We lose someone in our construction industry to suicide every second day. Today, I’m here working with OM Civil, to look at improving mental health and reducing the rate of suicide. What OM Civil have done, they’ve invited us in. Today, we’ve spoken to over 20 of their workers saying, “Look after your mates.” If you see something, do something about it just have a yarn. Just simply by that, we can reduce the rate of suicide. Our evidence shows we can. Our programme since, has been introduced 14 years ago, has reduced the rate of suicide in our industry considerably. That’s not us. That’s the guys out on the field looking after each other and asking, “Mate, are you okay?” It’s a mate-help-mate programme, and it’s working.

So, what we’re saying what our programme says, it’s really simple. It’s not rocket science. It’s just, if you see something, do something. If you see your mate struggling, have a yarn to him. Flip-side of that, if you are struggling and someone notices that you’re not yourself, and they say, “Do you wanna have a bit of a yarn?” It’s okay, not to be okay. We’ve got a 1300 number that’s 24/7, 1300-642-111 available for every construction worker in Australia and their family. So, if they’re struggling, they can ring that number 24/7, and they’ll get help.