At number 10 and 33 Piccadilly, Kier Construction is piloting a practical approach to the Construction Leadership Council Mental Health Joint Code of Practice. The project is focusing on five workplace hazard clusters: working patterns, operational demands, people factors and environment, financial issues and support factors. The pilot turns these themes into actions that can be planned, reviewed and improved with the project team and supply chain.
Workplace hazard clusters addressed:
5
Working hours and travel study:
2 weeks
Planned review ahead of project peak:
4 weeks
Karl Whiteman, CLC Industry sponsor for health, safety and wellbeingWe're encouraging industry leaders to support the principles of the JCOP, use the guidance where appropriate in their organisations, but first and foremost, we're encouraging them to go away and have the conversations within their organisation
From commitment to control
The pilot is designed to make mental health part of day-to-day project risk management, rather than relying only on support after someone is struggling. The site action plan poster sets a clear sequence: identify risks, eliminate them where possible, reduce exposure, support people, then monitor and improve. Practical controls include realistic programme dates and resources, better planning of design and logistics, monitoring working hours and fatigue, challenging excessive overtime, and reviewing concerns through health, safety and operational meetings.
Five connected risk areas
The action plan brings together five connected areas that can influence mental health at work. It considers long hours, shift patterns and travel; pressure created by deadlines, planning and communication; the quality of welfare, behaviour and the working environment; payment and financial pressures; and access to practical support. Looking across these areas helps the team consider how work is organised and where earlier action could remove or reduce avoidable pressure.
Working with people and the supply chain
The pilot includes actions to involve the workforce and supply chain. These include adding “one small thing” to project inductions, gathering inductee feedback, establishing Time to Talk sessions, exploring cultural and working-practice factors, and offering wellbeing and suicide-awareness training to key supply-chain supervisors. The plan also considers current support provided by supply-chain companies and how available services can be made more visible and accessible to the workforce.
Planning for pressure points
The project intends to use information and planned reviews to identify pressure earlier. Proposed actions include a two-week review of working hours and travel using Biosite data, examining programme delay and project churn, identifying trigger points that could affect people, and carrying out a review four weeks before the project reaches its peak. The action plan also considers timely payment through the supply chain, prompts within project management templates, and access to financial wellbeing support. Learning will be reviewed through feedback, site checks and operational discussions, with controls updated where concerns or trends emerge. This approach supports the pilot objective of making work safe, realistic and sustainable, while giving project teams practical prompts to identify, remove and reduce avoidable work-related mental health risks.