An investigation into higher suicide rate in Australian construction industry: Critical review

Statistics showcase that Australian Construction industry has a higher suicide rate(40.3 per 100000) than Australia’s general populous(27.6 per 100000). The issue has been even worse when compared with other industries of Australia in which Australian construction workers are 70% more likely to take their own lives than employees in other industries. Hence, this has been a serious issue for Australian construction industry in terms of not only human resource but also skills shortage, training and education and several other areas. Identifying critical factors contributing to the issue is the best way to approach the problem; hence, the current study conducts an extensive literature review following the PRISMA guidelines to pinpoint critical factors. The study then gives the focus into key strategies to be adopted to reduce the number of suicides in Australian construction industry. Finally, all findings will be collated to formulate guidelines and a framework to prevent suicides in Australian construction industry. The outcomes highly redound to the benefit of society and construction industry of Australia