INTRODUCING OUR NEW COLUMN by SAFE Project MENTAL HEALTH M MATTERS ICRI sta asked Beyer Bey and SAFE Project j to consider becoming g a h C ) on the regular contributor to the Concrete Repair Bulletin ( (CRB) fo the concrete repair industry. y In addition, topic of mental health for as e repair industry Greenhaus o ered to assist by sharing concrete SAF Project f rgeted message. This insights to Beyer and SAFE for a targeted Menta Health Matters. atters. In each issue, Beyer article is the debut of Mental Com nications team at SAFE Project and the Marketing and Communications have agreed to develop brief text and a companion resource on various topics to educate owners, leaders, managers, and supervisors how to address mental health in their companies. An important part of this column is to make the content relatable to the families of ICRI member companies, too. In recent years, the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI) has increased its advocacy for mental health in the workplace and at the jobsite. This mission is led by ICRI’s 120 Environmental Health and Safety Committee which is dedicated to building a culture of safety in the concrete repair industry through training and education. Scott Greenhaus, retired executive from Structural Technologies (an ICRI Supporting Member) CAL BEYER, CWP and current vice chair of the ICRI Committee 120 Environmental Health and Safety, has been one of the leading voices promoting the need to expand both physical safety and mental health in the industry. At the 2024 ICRI Fall Convention in Denver, Greenhaus provided an overview of the ICRI 120 Environmental Health and Safety Committee’s Total Worker Health Initiative. Greenhaus illustrated how ICRI has made major progress addressing physical health and wellness. He specifi cally referenced updates to the 120.1 Guidelines and Recommendations for Safety in the Concrete Repair Industry , in addition to the transition from hard hats to helmets initiative led by Hard Hats to Helmets (H2H) to reduce exposure to traumatic brain injury. 1,2 Finally, Greenhaus highlighted how ICRI has prioritized mental health and wellness by sharing resources on both suicide prevention and opioid use in the construction industry. 3 Following his presentation, Greenhaus introduced a guest speaker to discuss human capital risk management and how mental health a ects the construction industry. Cal Beyer is the Senior Director for SAFE Workplaces for national nonprofi t SAFE Project. Beyer discussed how mental and behavioral health have an enormous impact on the human and fi nancial resources of companies. Beyer described behavioral health as an underlying mental health condition combined with substance misuse or substance use disorder. Beyer’s presentation was well received by those attending, with many attendees surprised by the statistics that were shared. These data points underscored how high the construction industry ranks among other industries in mental health issues (anxiety and depression), heavy and binge drinking, substance use disorder (addiction), suicide, and overdoses. In most categories, construction and the mining industry are ranked either number one or two. 2024 FALL CONVENTION ADDRESSES PHYSICAL SAFETY AND MENTAL HEALTH INTRODUCING SAFE PROJECT AND THE AUTHOR Cal Beyer, CWP, is the Senior Director of SAFE Workplaces for national nonprofit SAFE Project. SAFE stands for Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic. SAFE Project works with veterans and caregivers, communities, campuses (college and K-12 schools), and workplaces to teach substance use prevention and addiction treatment and recovery. Beyer has over 30 years of experience as a risk management and safety professional. He has been dedicated to construction and manufacturing since 1996. He has been an advocate for workplace mental health since the mid-1990s. He was an inaugural appointee to the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Workplace Task Force in September 2010 when it was formed. He has served on its Executive Committee since 2016. Beyer helped launch the mental health and suicide prevention initiative in the U.S. construction industry in 2014 while working for a contractor in Washington state. Engineering-News Record named him a Top 25 Newsmaker in 2016 for identifying the need for suicide prevention awareness in the industry. Reach Beyer at cal@ safeproject.us or via cell at 651-307-7883. REFERENCES 1. ICRI Committee 120, “Guidelines and Recommendations for Safety in the Concrete Repair Industry (120.1-2009),” International Concrete Repair Institute, Minneapolis, MN, 2009, 114 pp. 2. Hard Hats to Helmets. (n.d.). About Hard Hats to Helmets (H2H). https:// www.hardhatstohelmets.org/about/ 3. Greenhaus, S. (2024, September/ October). “Repairing Individual Mental Health in the Concrete Repair Industry.” Concrete Repair Bulletin , pg. 30-34 THE BIRTH OF A NEW COLUMN ICRI is pleased to announce a new column that is being launched for 2025-2026. With the positive reception of the presentation, WWW.ICRI.ORG MARCH/APRIL 2025 CONCRETE REPAIR BULLETIN 5
Concrete Repair Bulletin March/April 2025: Page 5
