{"id":27270,"date":"2025-07-28T10:45:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T10:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/27270\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T10:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T10:45:17","slug":"urgent-need-for-mental-health-supports-in-n-s-construction-industry-report-says-halifax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/27270\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Urgent need\u2019 for mental health supports in N.S. construction industry, report says – Halifax"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report from Construction Safety Nova Scotia says many of the sector\u2019s workers are struggling with their mental health.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The study says there\u2019s an \u201curgent need\u201d for better support systems on the job, and says the current standard is putting workers at risk.<\/p>\n

Construction across the province is booming \u2014 whether at hospitals, roads or homes.<\/p>\n

But as demand rises, so are stress levels among workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur industry has been traditionally, perhaps, more of the tough guy persona,\u201d said MJ MacDonald, CEO of Construction Safety Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat culture of just \u2018suck it up and get it done\u2019 and cope and not talk about it. So, a lot of the work we\u2019re engaged in is around reducing that stigma.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The non-profit group says the new data in their report will help create a roadmap towards better mental health supports. The study found 50 per cent of construction workers contemplate leaving their jobs due to its stressful nature, which can affect turnover rates and safety on sites.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe know that anytime you\u2019re distracted and stressed, your risk for having a safety incident goes up,\u201d said MacDonald.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need to be paying attention to mental health, stress levels, and managing them and supporting them in a better way.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The non-profit is launching a new program this fall that provides mental health services to small and mid-sized construction companies.<\/p>\n

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Construction company MacKinnon and Olding won an award for their mental health practices in 2025. Their health and safety manager, Stacia Gunn, says the company\u2019s supervisors do daily check-ins with staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll go to see them if they have issues. So it\u2019s important that as an employer you train the supervisors to know how to receive that information from the workers if they\u2019re feeling not mentally healthy that day,\u201d said Gunn.<\/p>\n

Nick Glawson, a site superintendent, says he offers an \u201copen door policy\u201d to his crew and it makes a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really nice because we have that transparency that they can voice their concerns and we can all kind of stay on the same page,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new report from Construction Safety Nova Scotia says many of the sector\u2019s workers are struggling with their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[64,63,26447,137,514,515],"class_list":{"0":"post-27270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-construction-industry","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}