33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33) - Osaka and Kyoto, Japan - 2025

https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0200

Worker Well-being, Suicide, and Lean Construction – Unravelling the Global Silent Killer

Matthew S. Araki1 & James P. Smith2

1Undergraduate Student, Construction Management, Brigham Young University, Utah, USA, [email protected]
2Professor, Civil and Construction Engineering Department, Brigham Young University, Utah, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-8925-5680

Abstract

Contemporary studies reveal that suicide rates in the construction industry have soared in the past two decades. Suicide in the industry is an international form of social waste that threatens the pursuits of lean theory. This study aims to advance the IGLC body of repertoire by i) providing an in-depth analysis of the status of the well-being of construction workers along with corresponding suicide patterns on a global scale based on contemporary studies, ii) establishing a connection between lean construction and industry-specific suicide risk factors and proposing a relevant framework for mitigating social waste, iii) proposing methods for intervention and future research for advancement. A total of 20 contemporary studies were carefully selected to be synthesized for this semi-systematic literature review. The CARE framework was proposed as a guideline for mitigating social waste. This paper promotes critical international cooperation and action and advances the concept of social waste within lean theory.

Keywords

Lean construction; suicide; waste; respect for people; mental health

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Reference in APA 7th edition format:

Araki, M. S. & Smith, J. P.. (2025). Worker Well-being, Suicide, and Lean Construction – Unravelling the Global Silent Killer. In Seppänen, O., Koskela, L., & Murata , K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33) (pp. 1058–1069). https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0200

Shortened reference for use in IGLC papers:

Araki, M. S. & Smith, J. P.. (2025). Worker Well-being, Suicide, and Lean Construction – Unravelling the Global Silent Killer. IGLC33. https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0200

 

Founded in 1993, the IGLC is an international network of researchers from practice and academia in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) who feel that the practice, education, and research of the AEC industry have to be radically renewed in order to respond to the global challenges ahead.

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