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

https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0205

Exploratory Study on Construction Workers Mental Health

Thais da C. L. Alves1, Min Liu2, Chuanni He3, Weilin He4 & Tejaswini Hegade5

1Professor, AGC-Paul S. Roel Chair in Construction Eng.& Mgmt., Civil, Construction & Env. Eng. Dept., San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0001-7928-9190
2Professor, Abdallah H. Yabroudi Endowed Prof. in Sustainable Civil Infrastructure, Dept. of Civil and Env. Eng., Syracuse Univ., Syracuse, NY 13244, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-3070-7109
3Postdoctoral Researcher, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-0482-6243
4PhD Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0009-0001-2881-7499
5Graduate Student, Civil, Construction & Env. Eng. Dept., San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0009-0000-5894-7836

Abstract

Respect for people is a foundational Lean Construction principle which has received renewed attention since the COVID-19 pandemic when mental health issues became a major discussion topic. While governmental organizations track deaths by suicide and fatality rates, little is known about other mental health indicators in construction sites. This paper shares partial results of an ongoing research project on construction workers mental health (CWMH). A survey was developed with support of an industry advisory board. The national survey was deployed in the United States and received 151 usable responses by the end of 2024. Preliminary descriptive statistical analysis reveals that 40% of the respondents indicated that they agree or strongly agree that their work is more stressful than they ever imagined, whereas 57% indicated that they had little pleasure in doing things at least several days over the past month, a measure of depression. Regarding belongingness, 74% of respondents answered that they agree or strongly agree that they are treated as valued members of their work group. Results suggest that while workers are under stress, and might show signs of depression, belongingness is a strong element, which can be used as a lever to address CWMH issues.

Keywords

Construction workers, mental health, well-being, respect for people

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Reference in APA 7th edition format:

Alves, T. C. L., Liu, M., He, C., He, W. & Hegade, T.. (2025). Exploratory Study on Construction Workers Mental Health. In Seppänen, O., Koskela, L., & Murata , K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 33) (pp. 1286–1297). https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0205

Shortened reference for use in IGLC papers:

Alves, T. C. L., Liu, M., He, C., He, W. & Hegade, T.. (2025). Exploratory Study on Construction Workers Mental Health. IGLC33. https://doi.org/10.24928/2025/0205

 

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