Article: 'Isolated' workers at greatest risk of suicide

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'Isolated' workers at greatest risk of suicide

'Isolated' workers at greatest risk of suicide
Katrina Witham | August 16, 2008 - 3:33PM

Workers in agriculture, construction and transport industries have a greater suicide risk than any other occupation, a new Queensland study reveals.

A study into data collected from the Queensland Suicide Register reveals certain occupations have higher incidence of suicide due to a number of factors including stress, isolation and lack of support.

The Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention found the highest rate of suicide in Queensland was recorded in the three industries.

Professor Diego De Leo, who led the study, said he hoped the preliminary results could be used as an impetus to improve support to those working in these industries.

While each industry had different factors that contributed to a higher incident of suicide, the most common thread was poor relationships, he said.

"What is common is that agriculture, construction, and road and rail transport workers have more relationship problems than the rest of the suicide population," Prof De Leo said.

He said one major contributing factor to poor relationship problems was isolation and long work hours.

"There is a push to work longer hours, but this can lead to more relationships problems because you are away from your family and support network and this can feed a reciprocal misunderstanding," Prof De Leo said.

"The worker gets jealous, while the family resents them for being away."

In the agricultural industry, key contributing factors included isolation and environmental stress such as droughts, floods and other natural disasters.

"Working in agriculture there are limited recreational opportunities and loneliness can become a problem," he said.

In the construction industry, the main contributing factors included bullying and cultural differences, which again could cause isolation.

Transport Workers Union of Australia Queensland state secretary Hughie Williams said there were indications that there were severe cases of suicide in the transport industry.

There was a lot of pressure placed on workers and being away from home for long periods of time caused loneliness and isolation.

" If you are in the trucking industry you can be away for weeks with no backup support and it is pretty lonely," Mr Williams said.

"If people get stressed out they do things they wouldn't normally do.

"I think employers should make sure that when people are doing long distance work there should be procedures where the employee can call a professional organisation or someone in their family.

"I think we should encourage people if you are feeling down and out there is always someone you can contact.

"Even I am on the phone 24-hrs seven days a week. Most people have my number.

"If they want some support we will give them support and we can recommend for them to take action because life is too important to give it away."

Lifeline Australia has a dedicated counselling service for all Australians. To contact Lifeline or for more information on their services call 13 11 14 or go to http://www.lifeline.org.au.