What’s on your mind?

Glazing Summit organisers have revealed that last week’s event was the best attended yet. Nearly 500 people attended the conference, which was held once again at Edgbaston in Birmingham. 

There was much to take away from the Summit, and while I highlighted some of the key facts and figures in last week’s newsletter, one of the most impactful debates for me was the one that covered mental health. 

And that’s because mental health is one of the hardest topics to talk about. Earlier this year, The Double Glazing & Conservatory Ombudsman Scheme (DGCOS) revealed the results of its Fenestration Industry Mental Health survey.

86.8% of respondents said there isn’t enough awareness about mental health and 60.5% believed that there is a mental health crisis in the glazing industry. Some of the statistics regarding suicide in the construction industry that were presented at the Summit, were absolutely shocking. 

DGCOS has since launched a ‘self-care’ toolkit, which is designed to help relieve stress and anxiety for its installer members and some industry businesses are now taking a much more proactive approach to tackling mental health in the workplace. 

For example, the likes of Quickslide and Sternfenster have invested in an Employee Assistance Program that includes a free, confidential helpline with round the clock access to trained counsellors and support specialists. 

But there will be lots of companies that do not have the same resources and where it’s more likely for stress to be swept under the carpet. 

Mental health is a very hard topic to tackle head on and that’s because, typically, men don’t like to talk about it. 

However, with two people working in construction committing suicide each day (over 700 per year) it’s clearly an issue that needs to be brought out into the open. 

There’s no easy solution, but business owners – who burden huge amounts of stress themselves – have a responsibility to follow the lead of companies such as Quickslide, Sternfenster and others, to ensure the wellbeing of their employees who are, after all, their most important asset.