Sep 12,2021

Research to Lift Lid on Construction Industry Wellbeing

“It doesn’t sound like huge change, but it’s significant for a sector where working Saturdays, and increasingly Sundays, is deeply entrenched.” Dr Natalie Galea, Australian Human Rights Institute postdoctoral fellow

THE PROJECT FIVE | A weekend for every worker.

One construction worker dies by suicide every two days. Construction workers are six times more likely to die by suicide than in a workplace accident. Men in the construction industry are 53 per cent more likely to die by suicide than other employed males in Australia.

University of New South Wales is in the midst of a two-year research project studying the Roberts Co workforce on the $341-million Concord Hospital redevelopment project.

The Project 5: A Weekend for Every Worker research is focused on the impact of a non-traditional five-day work week on construction workers.

Australian Human Rights Institute postdoctoral fellow Dr Natalie Galea is leading the interdisciplinary research team at UNSW, who are interviewing workers and their families on the sum benefits of the five-day work week.

“It doesn’t sound like huge change, but it’s significant for a sector where working Saturdays, and increasingly Sundays, is deeply entrenched.” Galea said.

Read the full story here in The Urban Developer.