Ford has launched a campaign at the 2022 CV Show looking to raise awareness and help those in the construction industry that are facing mental health challenges.
The campaign is titled ‘Make it Visible’ and has been launched in partnership with the Lighthouse Construction Charity and construction giant Balfour Beatty. The campaign seeks to help those in an industry that is particularly susceptible to high pressures and challenging working conditions.
The construction industry is also seriously affected by suicide, as workers often struggle to find the help they need. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, as many as two construction workers are lost to suicide every day.
Even though there are many checks put in place for the physical dangers at work, there is little awareness of the mental support that could be available to workers on sites up and down the country.
With 53% of the industry currently agency workers, self employed or on zero hours contracts, many are hard to reach.
Visibility on site
Working under the title ‘Make it Visible’, the campaign will see mental health first aiders heading to worksites in brightly liveried Ford Transit Customs to provide on-the-ground support to those that need it. The counsellors will be wearing similarly bright high-vis jackets, and are all trained and have relatable first-hand experience of the challenges in the construction industry.
It will be supported by a series of posters at sites, which will detail how workers can get support and direct them to a safe space off site where they can get the help they require. There is also a number to which workers can text the words ‘Hard Hat’ as well as a helpline and a dedicated app. The aim is to offer emotional, physical and financial support to those that need it.
Bill Hill, CEO of the Lighthouse Construction Industry said that employees in the construction industry are particularly susceptible to mental health problems due to the uncertainty of jobs, long hours, pressures from higher up a working chain and poor diet while working away from home on site.
As a major supplier to the construction industry, Ford has said it feels a responsibility to help out. This campaign follows on from a similar one in 2018, titled The Elephant in the Transit that encouraged people to talk about mental health.
‘This campaign is hugely important to Ford and highlights the importance of mental wellbeing alongside physical wellbeing on the construction site,’ said Ford of Britain and Ireland director, commercial vehicles, Mandy Dean.
‘As the UK’s best-selling commercial vehicle brand, it is likely the majority of construction workers are also Ford customers and operators, so we feel we have a duty to support them, through this partnership with the Lighthouse Club, raising awareness and getting support to those in need of it.’
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