WARW 0169 Understanding the experiences of ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers in England

Understanding the experiences of ‘onthe-tools’ construction workers in England: What are the challenges and what should the industry do about them?

Prepared by Dr Carla Toro and Dr Sophie Clohessy

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July 2025

Aims and objectives This research project was made possible through collaboration between Warwick Medical School, Mates in Mind, the Crown Estate and the Tier 1 Health and Safety Leadership Group.

We defined two aims for the project:

1. Ask ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers about the challenges they experience as a worker in construction and any impact of work or the workplace on their wellbeing or mental health.

2. Explore with the ‘on-the-tools’ workers what the industry should do to improve their work and wellbeing at work.

What did we do?

We conducted six focus groups across the South West, South East, Midlands, North West and North East of England.

All focus groups were facilitated by one, two or three experienced qualitative researchers from Warwick Medical School. During the focus groups, participants were asked open ended questions about their experiences of work and based on the discussion, to share ideas for how the industry should change. Focus groups were audio recorded.

Who took part?

The focus groups were delivered between April to July 2024 across 6 construction sites facilitated by Tier 1 firms (Sir Robert McAlpine, Mace, Balfour Beatty, Bowmer and Kirkland, Kier and BAM). Tier 1 firms hosted the researchers for the day and recruited construction workers from a commercial or infrastructure building site, ensuring that their time was paid for. Between 7 to 10 participants took part within each focus group. In total, 46 participants contributed to the focus groups (see Figure 1 for a summary of site location and demographic characteristics). Focus group recordings range from 52 min to 88 min.

Figure 1. Summary of site location, ethnicity and age range for the 46 focus group participants Location

Ethnicity 50/50 onsite/office

Age (years) Asian

Black Office

18-29

EU Other

50-59

60+

40-49 Onsite

White British

30-39

How did we collect and analyse our data?

The design of the research and all participant facing materials were reviewed by the Biomedical and Scientific Research Ethics Committee at the University of Warwick and full approval was obtained (BSREC 80/22-23) prior to the study commencing. Tier 1 organisations provided an appropriately sized and private room for the focus group to take place, ensuring that only the researchers accompanied the participants. Before taking part in the focus groups, participants were provided with a summary of the research and asked to read the Participant Information Leaflet and ask questions before consenting their participation to the study. Following this, participants were asked to fill out a short anonymous demographics form.

As described in the Participant Information Leaflet, audio recordings would be stored on a secure Warwick University server and then transcribed (audio to text), and all personal details removed. Two of the research team from Warwick Medical School (Toro and Clohessy) analysed the data (transcribed audio recordings) independently using a technique called ‘Thematic Analysis’. The two researchers discussed their analysis of the data and refined the outputs of the analysis iteratively over several months (Nov 2024 to March 2025) until agreeing on a final Thematic Map (see Fig 2).

What did we find?

During the thematic analysis process, patterns in the audio data contributed to the formation of ‘themes’ and ‘subthemes’ consisting of sentiments, experiences and quotes. A final Thematic Map was agreed on, which consisted of five broad themes, summarised here below:

Theme 1: Perceptions and experiences of the construction industry This theme related to participants’ underlying beliefs about the construction industry. There were references to construction companies’ priority of profits over workers wellbeing. Comparisons were drawn to other industries in terms of it being a ‘tough’ industry to work in. Reference to hierarchy and feeling like “just a number” was also evident. Participants also recalled witnessing incidents of poor mental health.

Theme 2: Challenges impacting health and wellbeing A range of work factors and work conditions were cited as negatively impacting health and wellbeing of construction workers. This included: poor standards of facilities or PPE, poor and conflicting communication of workflow, an ingrained industry-wide long work hours culture, acute job- and financialinsecurity issues for self-employed workers, safety compliance pressures conflicting with time pressures for their work and limited opportunities to interact with superiors other than being told “get your glasses on” contributing to feelings of being undermined and undervalued. As a quarter of participants had supervisory roles, unique pressures for them, in particular in relation to time pressures and over-seeing safety, were also voiced.

Theme 3: Negative consequences of challenges to workers’ lives Participants cited how work and work conditions impact negatively on physical and mental health and relationships and lead to coping behaviours to help them manage fatigue or work-related stress.

Theme 4: Disclosure of mental health concerns and limitations of support This theme highlighted attitudes towards disclosure of mental health issues at work, including several perceived barriers including masculine norms, pride, stigma and fear of reprisal. There was an awareness of support for mental health, but limitations were raised, such as, insufficient time to call helplines at work because of project time pressures, mistrust of colleagues trained in MHFA, who are often management, and there being resource limitations for small firms to offer mental health support.

Theme 5: What the industry should do to improve the health and wellbeing of ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers This theme consists of suggestions of what the construction industry should do to improve the health and wellbeing of ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers.

These included making more efforts to ensure workers feel valued and respected more, for example, through improved facilities that are equitable to office workers, and having the opportunity for conversations with superiors beyond just being told they are doing something wrong. Other suggestions include: increasing support for self-employed workers, such as financial literacy or sick pay, abolishing self-employment altogether and make planning and communication of projects more realistic and consistent.

The sub-themes that emerged from Themes 1 to 5 are listed in Table 1. A visual representation of the relationship between the five themes and their respective subthemes are presented in the thematic map (Figure 2). Representative quotes for Themes 1 to 5 are reported in the Supplementary Table in the Appendix.

Table 1: Themes and Sub-themes from the analysis of six focus group recordings with ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers.

Theme

Sub-themes 1.1 A tough career, wouldn’t recommend to school leavers 1.2 Comparisons with other industries

1. Perceptions and experiences of the construction industry

1.3 “It’s all about money” 1.4 “I’m just a number” 1.5 “Just have to get on with it” culture 1.6 The government should do something 1.7 Witnessing incidences of poor mental health 2.1. Workflow problems (poor planning and communication and conflicting chains of command) 2.2. Long work hours culture 2.3. Inherent challenges of self-employment

2. Challenges impacting health and wellbeing

2.4. Safety Compliance (cognitive and emotionally demanding) 2.5 Poor standards of facilities, equipment or PPE 2.6. Low praise and recognition from above & hierarchical insights 2.7. Site managers and supervisors also stressed* 2.8. Social isolation**

3. Negative consequences of challenges to workers’ lives

3.1. Impacts on physical and mental health (e.g., sleep) 3.2. Negative impacts on relationships 3.3. Coping behaviours

4. Disclosure of mental health concerns and limitations of support

4.1 Barriers to disclosure of mental health issues (e.g., masculine norms, pride, stigma, fear of reprisal) 4.2 Limitations to formal support (e.g. phone lines, MHFA) 5.1. Better facilities 5.2. Increasing MH training & support (in particular for on-the-tools)

5. What the industry should do to improve the health and wellbeing of ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers

5.3. Increase support for self-employed 5.4. More bonding, respect, appreciation and reward 5.5. Improve planning & communication of work processes 5.6. Additional solutions proposed by workers living away from home**

* Almost a quarter of all participants had supervisory roles that required that they worked were both in the office and on site. A subtheme (2.7. Site managers and supervisors also stressed), described the accounts from this subgroup of participants. ** Two focus groups included construction workers living away from home. Although many of their perspectives aligned with those from the other 4 focus groups, two subthemes emerged that stood out as different from the others and described perspectives specifically from that subgroup (2.8.

Social isolation and 5.6. Additional solutions proposed by workers living away from home).

Figure 2. Graphical output from the qualitative analysis of the six focus groups: A map of the five themes and subthemes.

Focus Group Themes

1. Perceptions & experiences of the Construction Industry

2. C hallenges Impacting Health and Wellbeing

• • • •

omparisons with other Industries C “It’s all about money” “ Just have to get on with it” culture Witnessing incidents of poor mental health • “I’m just a number” • A tough career, would not recommend • The government should do something

• W orkflow challenges due to poor planning or conflicting communication • Long work hours culture • Inherent challenges of SelfEmployment • Safety compliance • Poor standard of facilities • Low recognition, praise, reward • Supervisors also impacted

3. Negative consequences of challenges to workers’ lives

4. Disclosure of mental health concerns & limitations of support

• Impact health • Impact relationships • Coping behaviours

• B arriers to disclosure (male pride, fear of consequences) • Limitations of existing MH initiatives

5. What should the industry do to change • • • • •

Better Facilities Increase Mental Health training and support Increase support for self-employed More bonding, respect, appreciation & reward Improve planning & communication of work

Conclusions Thematic analysis of the audio recordings from the six focus groups with ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers led to the creation of five themes with several subthemes. The findings provide insights to not only the work-related stressors that are common for ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers and the negative impacts on their health and wellbeing and lives outside of work, but also what they feel the industry should do to improve work conditions and worker wellbeing.

Some of the work stressors that were presented as ‘challenges’ (Theme 2) such as selfemployment and unique stressors for workers with supervisory roles, were highlighted by ‘on-the-tools’ workers in previous research led by Warwick Medical School (https://warwick. ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mentalhealth/our-research/construction/national-grid/ifa_health_hub_ report_v4.pdf).

As 89% of the participants in the focus groups were aged 30+, we are currently conducting further qualitative research with young (18 to 25yrs) construction workers to capture the voice and perspectives of workers entering the industry and further understand what the industry could do to support them in their roles.

Thank you Thank you to the Tier 1 H&S leaders who made this research possible by providing us with access to workers on their construction sites. We also thank the Crown Estate and Research England Policy Support Fund for funding this research. The research team would also like to thank all the individual construction workers who kindly provided us with their time to share their voice, experiences and opinions with us. We hope that their contributions will strengthen the case for construction industry bodies to consider system-wide changes that could lessen pressures for construction workers and thereby support their wellbeing.

Contact This report was written by Dr Sophie Clohessy and Dr Carla Toro. If you would like to contact the research team, please contact Carla at: carla.toro@warwick.ac.uk

Appendix Supplementary Table: Example quotes for subthemes.

Theme 1. Perceptions and experiences of the construction industry Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG 1, participant 3] “I’ve got son now who is going to college, but I’ve said to him, don’t go into construction that’s my… it is something you want to do but stay away from it”.

1.1 A tough career, wouldn’t recommend to school leavers

[FG1, participant 5] “I wouldn’t advise my kids to do that, definitely not”.

[FG1, participant 4] “Why did I play the funny character in school? Like I’m sat here now, I’m around of people telling me that you need to change career mate”.

1.2 Comparisons with other industries

[FG 2, participant 5] “maybe the barrier to entry to work on construction is maybe easier than other industries. So, there’s a lot more, I don’t know, maybe struggling people that can go through that process to get on site and they might have more problems than say someone who’s got sort of a more educated background”.

[FG 1, participant 3] “But it’s all down to money (overlapping conversation) money is a big part in this construction industry and it is, if there was a place where they could go “yeah, this job could be done a bit longer or go on a bit”, and they could maybe, I don’t know it’s just down to money isn’t it.”

1.3 “It’s all about money”

[FG5, participant 4] “It’s all smoke and mirrors. They say a lot of stuff but when push comes to shove, they don’t implement any of it. If they did implement any of it, like you say, it comes down to money over people. Because they’ve got their budgets”.

[FG2, participant 2] “There’ll always come a company who sees it as an opportunity and push for it to be faster and better and they’ll become the standard, yeah, and they’ll win the projects. At the end of the day, that saves the client money and it’s all about the money. If they can get a contractor who’s willing to do a job in a year, or whatever, if a contractor is saying it’s going to take two, they’re always going to go with the contractor who said a year, you know what I mean?”.

Theme 1. Perceptions and experiences of the construction industry Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG 1, participant 4] “I mean everybody sees themselves as a number and if you don’t you’re a bit silly to be honest with you, because if you put in as much as you can, and you’ll never get it back. So, like what this gentleman said, you’ve got to take yourself away from it, you can’t stress yourself out too much, it’s never going to get you nowhere“.

1.4 “I’m just a number”

[FG3, participant 2] “Appreciation. We’re waiting for that, that’s... because they’ve noticed something, otherwise it’s just you’re just another number, aren’t you”.

[FG5, participant 6) “To me, like, I mean... Like I’ve seen it before in jobs, like, you’re just a number. You’re not a person”

1.5 “Just have to get on with it” culture

[FG 2, participant 2] “That’s the culture of it as well, isn’t it... no matter what’s going on, the job needs to get done. And also, you’ve got responsibilities too, you know, you’ve got children to feed, bills to pay, and stuff like that”.

[FG3, participant 2] “It’s stressful init, it’s a stressful job. Pressure of work, targets, getting your job right, keeping your job”

1.6 The government should do something

1.7 Witnessing incidences of poor mental health

[FG 1, participant 3] “It’s not really fair because this probably, this is the job that the government should be looking at because this is where all the accidents and all the stress is. I’m not saying people don’t get stressed that work in offices and that, I’m not saying that. But this is… if you go out there and see what these boys are doing.”

[FG6, participant 2] “We’ve had one lad’s father coming in, and he was in a pretty bad way. And our company put him through that. He was contemplating to himself but obviously....he’s getting help, what he needed, so”.

[FG3, participant 3] “It was only yesterday that one of the lads was saying, do you remember working with in [location name removed], the scaffolder, he’s hung himself. Just last week”.

Theme 2: Challenges impacting health and wellbeing Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG 4, participant 6] “I think the biggest problem on this site ...is you’re waiting so long because there’s so many people and so many different chains of command, that a certain bit of ...has to go through just to be signed off. And you could be waiting a week for a permit. Now when you’re waiting a week for a permit, there’s nothing you can do”.

2.1. Workflow problems (planning, communication and conflicting chains of command)

[FG6, participant 8 “We just had to cancel all our deliveries for this week and next week because the programme’s due, so we turn to that area now”.

[FG4, participant 6 “I think this job would be one of the better jobs you could work on if you’re allowed to just do the work they wanted you to do. And the biggest problem people just try to stop you from working all the time. And it’s because there’s so much contract interference”.

[FG1, participant 3] “So, then if they say 18 months, we’ll go in start working and then straight away you hit a snag or something they might not design it right or something like that, but it’s still on our shoulders because we are the ones who are doing the work. So, that four weeks is now on us to try and claw back”.

2.2. Long work hours culture

[FG 4, participant 7] “I’ll be in the office, and they’ll say by this day, that’s got to be done because when you finish that date, this company will be coming in... and I got to work to them schedules. But working up to that schedule, something might go wrong... and you will be falling behind your schedule. They don’t move the schedule to the next week because you had a week of delays of something, that schedule stays the same, and then it plays on your mind, you go home...you’re thinking at night, what can I do to catch up? What can I make this better? And you don’t switch off”.

[FG1, participant 3] “So, every time you go into work, you know you’ve got to hit this date or specific task to finish a job on time. You’re missing lunch breaks. And then they’ve got to push their brothers, so it goes all the way to the bottom, he’s the one who’s got more stress if he’s losing money, it’s a knock-on effect”.

2.3. Inherent challenges of selfemployment

[FG 1, participant 3] “We can’t have time off because these guys can’t have time off, if they’ve got a broken hand or a broken finger, we come back to work, we can’t lose the money”.

Theme 2: Challenges impacting health and wellbeing Sub-themes

Example quotes

2.4. Safety Compliance (cognitive and emotionally demanding)

[FG 1, participant 8] “Maybe they should do a week doing the job and following it by every single health and safety rule and see if they can produce timeframes as well because 99% of them won’t be able to do it”.

[FG 3, participant 2] “But then they buy all these nice fancy tables for their offices and they’ll have no *** heaters in the drying rooms, so.

And every man is trying to get dry clothes”.

2.5 Poor standards of facilities, equipment or PPE

[​ FG6, participant 10] “when the site start to get busy, like the safety meetings we have, and I think something like hundred-and-something blokes per six toilets which is all right by the law, but is it all right in reality?”

[FG5 participant 6] “Like I’ve seen it before in jobs, like, you’re just a number, you’re not a person... And if you have all the correct PPE, yeah, no problem. But I went out and I went to stores, I want a filter for my versaflo that’s not for... but for fumes. Don’t have them”.

[FG5, participant 1] “Safely. But have the right kit to be able to do it properly. But also, ultimately, want to have a bit of respect, a bit of dignity, and the things that you’re talking about, just have the right conditions for you to be able to do that”.

[FG 1, participant 4] “It comes down to when you work for someone, you don’t get a lot of gratitude, the only time you get a thank you is if you’re lucky at Christmas drinks or so (overlapping background noise) job well done​”.

2.6. Low praise and recognition from above & hierarchical insights

[FG6, participant8] “So, as soon as they say a little goal, they’re putting something in, so if they say that you’re doing well then, they’re not making you feel good because nobody wants to make you feel good.

If you give them what they want, then they want more the next week.

And if you give them what they want that week they want twice as much, and that’s this Tier 1 or any other contractor, Tier 1’s that I’ve worked for in a number of years”.

[FG4, participant 6] “you need to pick up an appointment, you’re not allowed upstairs, you need to make an appointment to go up to the office, I’m not even joking. It’s insane, a blue hat should have more respect on a site”.

Theme 2: Challenges impacting health and wellbeing Sub-themes

Example quotes

2.7. Site managers and supervisors also stressed *

[FG 1, participant 3] “I used to leave the phone on all night and I’d keep getting emails at eleven o’clock at night”.

2.8. Social isolation **

[FG4, participant 5] “I mean, a lot of the time, you work away from home, is like the time that I’d be isolated, so a lot of the time they talk about being isolated by yourself, you know what I mean, you’re not really there, you can’t really get out of your truck, you’re just sat there, so there’s a lot of isolation to deal with. And that plays on your mind as in what’s happening at home, kids growing up, troubles at home, you know, sort of… it absolutely can impact you if you’re not careful what you’re doing”.

Theme 3: Negative consequences of challenges to workers’ lives Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG6, participant 8] “Sleeping as well is very-... I’m bad for it myself but if I’ve got-... if I know I’ve got two weeks or three weeks coming up, that’s going to be tough, I’m planning everything right up until the second I go to sleep, and I do exactly the same when I wake up and I go, right, that’s what I’m doing first, and I’m on my way work, I’m travelling to work thinking about what I’m going to do when I get there, not turning up and then looking at what I’m going to do , you know, I’ve got this to do and this to do. I’ve already planned it and went through my head before I got here”.

3.1. Impacts on physical and mental health (including sleep)

[FG1, participant 4] “And then your brain’s still working overtime when you are at home worrying about that next deadline that you’ve got to meet, and if you don’t meet that in time, the consequences that may follow, so that’s definitely another​”.

[FG2, participant 2] “It’s difficult to switch off, especially when you’re working six days a week as well, so you don’t really have the break and stuff like that, it is difficult to switch off. So, especially if you’ve got pressure at home and other stuff as well, it just seems to fill up, it can build up and up, and yeah, fill up the weight on my shoulders and getting more and more...”

Theme 3: Negative consequences of challenges to workers’ lives Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG 1, participant 4] “You’re coming home with this stress on your shoulders, and it rubs off on other people. But it definitely does like they might not realise what your are going through like they… everybody goes to work, everybody’s got a job to do. But when you’re coming home with these burdens on your shoulders, it’s easy to take it out on someone that you love the most”.

3.2. Negative impacts on relationships

[FG2, participant 4] “ I’d say like 80% of your day you’re probably at work. I can imagine people who have got families, they’ve got, you know, people they live with, I can imagine that time away, and the fact they can’t commit more time towards their families, their partners and what not, can cause problems at home as well for them. So, it’s not just a matter of people suffer at work, but they might suffer at home because of work as well. So, you know, the hours are so long that you dedicate less time as I said, they’re tired, mentally exhausted, physically exhausted. The last thing you want to do is cater to other people. So, obviously, that’s going to cause collapses in relationships, isn’t it, between family, between partners, friends, whatever”.

[FG3, participant 2] “It’s not healthy for relationships, that’s what.

Especially for wife and kids and stuff”.

[FG3, Participant 6] “Yeah, we drink red bull. You need it to survive”.

3.3. Coping behaviours

[FG1, participant 3] “So, what do they do they’re going to think if they live alone, and haven’t got kids or anything like, what are you going to do, you’re living on your own. They’ve got no option, they stressed out to the night, because they’ve worked so many hours and then you can just sit there, and just think, oh I’ve had enough, so get drinking. That’s what they do. I’m not saying everybody does”.

[FG2, participant 1] “So, you try and do your best to succeed. Then it obviously comes at a cost, where you can’t take no more. You’ve got to put up with it. Hit the bottle, whatever people do to escape that feeling. So yeah, I’d say deadlines, pressure to be finished is a massive thing”.

Theme 4: Disclosure of mental health concerns and limitations of support Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG1, participant 7] “I think it’s maybe pride. I can deal with this myself. I can cope. I can cope, I can cope. But then snap all of a sudden, the person’s not coping, do you know what I mean?”​.

4.1 Barriers to disclosure of mental health issues (masculine norms, pride, stigma, fear of reprisal)

[FG2, participant 2] “If I went to my boss and said, I’m really struggling with the workload or, and then all of a sudden, he comes to me and says, well, we’re having a bit of a shuffle around in the business, and we’re going to drop you from a site manager to whatever the next level is. Do you know what I mean? And then that person will have in the back of their mind he’s done that because...”.

[FG4, participant 6] “ think a lot of people who do struggle don’t tell you they’re struggling. They keep it built up because they feel like that a lot of people kind of feel like they’re doing it to themselves because they made their choice to be away from home..”.

[FG2, participant 9] “Yeah, and then say, a little one-man outfit who was, you know, perhaps, it was a one-man company, he’s building a five-bedroom house, he’s got a couple of electricians, a couple of plumbers, a carpenter, you know, and they’re very small, he ain’t going to spend his overheads, his money putting up posters and having this going on, you know, so it’s them people who don’t have access to this, and display boards and stuff, highlighting, you know, what is out there to help”.

4.2 Limitations to formal support (eg phone lines, MHFA)

[FG2, participant 6] “It’d be hard to reach subcontractors though, won’t it, I suppose. Lower-level subcontractors are, it’d be hard to reach them. It’s alright for a big company where they can employ that, but for a subcontractor, it’d be difficult to reach that sort of category really. Yeah, it’s all on the contractors, isn’t it?”.

[FG6, participant 10] “So, I think they see mental health on construction is only seen as a tick box”...[participant 8]....”They come in, they do a little talk, you sign a bit of paper to say you’d been there, and then everybody gets a little sticker, and that’s it done”.

[FG 1, participant 8] “So, if there was like a half hour slot out of your working time, people would probably use it a lot more. But free time is so scarce anyway, they don’t want to be ringing these numbers in that time”.

Theme 4: Disclosure of mental health concerns and limitations of support Sub-themes

Example quotes

4.2 Limitations to formal support (eg phone lines, MHFA)

[FG 2, participant 4] “because I’m in management, people find it difficult, whereas I think it’d be beneficial if the training, if we had mental health first aiders that were say out there more, so I’m predominantly in the office, and obviously I’m the one that’s a lot of the time, you know, doing the time sheets, paying the wages, trying to sort everything else out, I’m busy. I feel like, I mean, you probably, you know, you probably talk to someone more, more likely to talk to someone on site”.

[FG3, participant 3] “If you phoned in and said look my mental health is not the best can I take two weeks off...[Participant 2] ...”you wouldn’t have a job”.

Theme 5: What the industry should do to improve the health and wellbeing of ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG 2, participant 7] “you’re just sort of stuck with that workplace with nowhere to just, do you know what, it’s really doing my head in and I just need to go and have five, just chill out”.

5.1. Better Facilities

[FG3, participant 3] “Space, so that we get enough room and there’s enough space for everyone”.

[FG3, participant 2] “space in the drying room when you’re getting changed, when you’re like shoulder to shoulder trying to get dressed, and all things wet. Definitely dry rooms are a massive must because it rains, near enough every day of the week, so you’re putting wet clothes on every morning, and it’s not a good feeling in the morning”.

Theme 5: What the industry should do to improve the health and wellbeing of ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG2, participant 4] “mandatory yeah, I’m sure if the cost was, I don’t know how much it costs, but if it was cheaper and more accessible than that, then smaller companies and other companies are more likely to get someone from their team trained up, rather than, you know, because it’s a big enough cost losing someone for two days doing it.”.

5.2. Increasing MH training & support (in particular for on-the-tools)

[FG2, participant 6] “Like imagine they brought the person in. It’s easier because they’re the contractor and we’re all subcontractors.

They put it up here available for us to come in, but say [company name removed] had just their mental health person come in and it’s a, you know, it’s more of their resource and other subcontractors kind of can’t tap into that almost. I I think it’s more reliant on contractors to take that role and then provide it for subcontractors”.

[FG3, participant 5] “ think it will help like come from the workers.

Sometime, you know, some person they’d be having like little pressure, something like they feel somebody coming in and mental health to talk to him”.

[FG3, participant 3] “Yeah, I feel someone independent, yeah, who’s private and nothing to do with them”.

5.3. Increase support for selfemployed

[FG 2, participant 5] “It’s unrealistic but some of the problems we were saying was the lack of job security, the absence of sick pay, and not knowing where you’re going. So, if there was some sort of funding that supported, I don’t know, those sorts of problems, but it doesn’t seem like it would be feasible because it’s business-orientated, profitorientated. So yeah, I don’t know, if there was a pool of money that could be tapped in to, to support people who were in between jobs, you know, some sort of scheme where they got sick pay”.

[FG1, participant 7] “if a self-employment was not going to exist and everybody was going to have a contract, a working contract. I think that everything was going to be a little bit more realistic rather than just, you know, that you’re going to get people either from this agency or that agency and they’re going to kick and get whenever you want.

And there is the most stressful part most of us face because there is no, I mean you’re not secured; you know, you don’t know what tomorrow is going to be”.

Theme 5: What the industry should do to improve the health and wellbeing of ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG1, participant 3] “that’s what I’m saying, maybe they put something in place for the guys, you know, a bit of sick pay or something, because that doesn’t half take a bit of stress off them.”

5.3. Increase support for selfemployed

[FG2, participant 1) “Maybe as well, we spoke about emotional support, maybe because we’ve spoken a lot about financial problems as well, maybe there’s someone that you can talk to about, because a lot of people here are self-employed, how they spread their money, like maybe they don’t have anyone else to talk to about, or even have the education to say like I need to split up how much money I’m getting..”

[FG1, participant 3] “You know like you could get a relationship between the higher and everything, you’re halfway there”.

[FG1, participant 8] “ I think they could do a bit more sort of team bonding stuff because you don’t get any of that”.

[FG3, participant 2] “Have a barbeque or free foods for lads and then give them a bit of a spiel about, you know, like this, that, and the other.

And you feel like you’re a bit of a [inaudible] instead of just another number”.

5.4. More bonding, respect, appreciation and reward

[FG6, participant 8] “Spread the bonus a bit for the boys”.

[FG1, participant 3] “Well, maybe you know, give the guys incentive, you know, if they finish a job up early, let them go home, do you know what I mean? Don’t keep them there when they don’t have to be”.

[FG1, participant 4] “[Tier 1 company name removed] shouldn’t just come around a site walking around saying, “oh where’s your glasses?”, there should be a relationship established with them. There’s no bond other than “where are your glasses?”, maybe if we ever actually just sat down in a room and speak to each other like humans, not just robots, there might not be as much conflict and that might cause a lot as stress, so we need more interaction with them rather than just being told what to do”.

Theme 5: What the industry should do to improve the health and wellbeing of ‘on-the-tools’ construction workers Sub-themes

Example quotes [FG2, participant 7] “ Planning and resource, you know, plan the work and make sure you’ve got enough resource. Traditionally, you get to the end of the job, that’s when the squeeze comes, and you’ve got to be finished, and you’re trying to cram eight weeks of work into two. If you plan it further back and have more resource, and stop that rush at the end”.

5.5. Improve planning & communication of work processes

[FG 6, participant 4] “just stick to the programme, don’t beat it by three months, just work through it, which never happen”.

[FG2, participant 3] “Yeah, in an ideal world, you’ll just say to the client, right, you’re not moving in in January, you’re moving in in June instead, and we’re having an extra six months and everyone’s going to chill out and go at a nice steady pace. But that would never happen because then, that client then wouldn’t use that contractor again. So, no one wants to let the client down”.

[FG1, participant 8] “So, if they were to stop wasting time in that ways, they’d probably have more time half hour for like a mental health or wellbeing thing rather everyone’s got to come to this meeting to tick a box and none of them need to be there”.

5.6. Additional solutions proposed by workers living away from home**

[FG4, participant 6] “yeah, it’s like your travel as well, you’re only-... like when I was first time here, you used to get return train fare. Now you only get one way train fare because now they only pay a one way.... because it was a peak train, weren’t it, and then they changed it to off-peak so you were losing about hundred pounds the difference”

Note: FG: Focus Group * Almost a quarter of all participants had supervisory roles that required that they worked were both in the office and on site. A subtheme (2.7. Site managers and supervisors also stressed) described the accounts from this subgroup of participants. ** Two focus groups included construction workers living away from home. Although many of their perspectives aligned with those from the other 4 focus groups, two subthemes emerged that stood out as different from the others and described perspectives, specifically from that subgroup: these included: subtheme 2.8. Social isolation and subtheme 5.6. Additional solutions proposed by workers living away from home.

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