The Civil Construction Federation, Victoria, CEO John Kilgour has congratulated APS Managing Director Terence Breen for being one of the first businesses to be accepted into the Positive Plans – Positive Futures project, as a founding partner. John commended Terence on his leadership and commitment to creating a mentally healthy workplace for the staff at APS, by expressing interest in joining the project.
CCF received a large number of applications and selected APS to join a group of leaders that have demonstrated a genuine concern and curiosity to actively participate in their project.
As a founding partner, APS will support CCF in the development of a suite of tools that will ultimately result in APS becoming one of the first civil construction businesses in Victoria to develop a mental health action plan.
APS Managing Director, Terence Breen said he is committing to this project in acknowledgment of the number of males who have lost their lives to suicide in Geelong.
“I recently lost a male friend to suicide and my sons mates have lost 3 fathers to suicide, all from the Geelong region. I want to ensure we are doing all we can for our staff and industry to prevent and support our workers mental health and create a healthier, positive workplace”
The Civil Construction industry has high rates of suicide and mental health problems such as suicide being 1.7 x higher than for other male workers, 3 x higher for lower-skilled construction workers. The environmental risks are; work instability, limited job control and a highly masculine culture. A 1/3 of all new WorkCover claims over the next 10 years will be mental health-related.
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