Feb 13, 2023
AsphaltPro Teams Up With Ajax Paving’s Vince Hafeli to Curb Construction Industry Suicide Epidemic
BY AsphaltPro Staff
Asphalt industry members have a new repository of resources and guidance to assist in spreading awareness of the troubling epidemic of suicide in the construction industry with the newly launched website at https://theasphaltpro.com/suicideprevention/ where they can sign the new “Suicide in Construction Awareness Proclamation.”
Teaming up with Ajax Paving President Vince Hafeli, the asphalt industry’s leading publication, AsphaltPro Magazine, is committed to raising awareness; finding resources for training and creating robust employee assistance programs (EAPs); and helping asphalt companies create a caring culture for all employees. With help from the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP), Holmes-Murphy, The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) and others, the niche publication staff has gathered materials to a central location—and will continue to gather more.
“We are committed to helping safety directors and managers find ways to approach the topic of mental health wellness and incorporate suicide prevention in their companies’ safety cultures,” AsphaltPro Publisher Chris Harrison said. “We want to encourage those open conversations that help save lives in our industry.”
To advance toward that goal, AsphaltPro is proud to host Hafeli’s “Suicide in Construction Awareness Proclamation” digital living document, which he launched at the Feb. 7 Florida Transportation Builders Association (FTBA) Construction Conference. After a presentation on the topic to a room of nearly 1,900 attendees, Hafeli encouraged officials to sign on the dotted line proclaiming their intent to continue the conversation and work toward having open conversations pertaining to suicide and mental health awareness in our industry.
The physical document will travel with Hafeli from now until December 2024, to a variety of speaking engagements where industry members will have the opportunity to sign their names. The digital document now resides on the AsphaltPro website where anyone can read it and electronically sign, signaling his or her support for expanding the conversation.
Visitors to the site will also see a library of articles from multiple publications and blogs where statistics and tips for assisting workers are outlined.
For more information on the “Suicide in Construction Awareness Proclamation,” please reach out to Vince Hafeli at Ajax Paving at vhafeli@ajaxpaving.com, or read and sign the proclamation today at https://theasphaltpro.com/suicide-proclamation/.