Subscribe to Newsletter and Print Magazine
  • KINGSPAN K-ROC
  • CAROMA
  • Infrabuild

Build Australia: A construction Magazine logo

  • News
  • Projects
  • Trending
  • Events
  • Business Insight
  • Online Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Home
  • News
  • Projects
  • Trending
  • Events
  • Business Insight
  • Online Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Landscape awards celebrate environment, people, culture and place
  • WA invests $37.5 million in construction
  • Central by J.AR Office wins big at interior design awards
  • Historic partnership reshapes global steel industry

Australian construction exodus driven by stress and burnout

19 Oct, 2022
stress



New industry research has revealed over half (52%) of Australian construction leaders report losing skilled workers due to higher levels of stress and burnout. Still, work health and safety (WH&S) remains a top priority and the industry has increased investment in technology and data to reduce risk and improve safety outcomes.

Conducted in September 2022 by ACA Research for Procore, the survey of 155 construction leaders across Australia found that WH&S is a higher priority (46%) than sustainability goals such as reducing energy consumption (40%) and diversity and inclusion goals (25%). This is reflected in an increase in the number of construction businesses with a WH&S policy, rising from 71% from the previous survey in 2021, to 77% in 2022.

Shortly after the release of the National Skills Commission’s 2022 Skills Priority List revealing construction managers are the fourth highest skill set in demand, with 4,984 vacancies across Australia, just under half (48%) the respondents to the poll admit they can’t hire enough skilled labour to fully staff their jobsites.

Respondents acknowledged the mental health impact of the skills shortage on their workforce, both onsite and in the office, reporting an increase in WH&S incidents including emotional well-being cases. Over half (52%) of the respondents agreed the industry needs to improve the way injured workers are supported with their mental health.

Fortunately, over the past 12 months the industry has adopted more mental health related policies. Approximately half (54%) of construction businesses state they have invested in more mental health resources to support staff.

  • 54% of respondents now have a mental health strategy, up from 36% in 2021.
  • 47% of respondents now have a stress and burnout management strategy, up from 34% in 2021.
  • 41% of respondents now have a working time reduction policy, up from 28% in 2021.

While construction leaders are improving efforts to support the mental health and wellbeing of workers, less than half the businesses surveyed conduct safety training at key moments or regular intervals (49%) – a figure that has remained stagnant over the past 12 months.

Leveraging tech and data to improve safety

The Australian construction industry is continuing to turn to technology-based solutions to improve safety and supplement existing approaches, such as site inductions and training. In the past year, there has been a significant increase in how construction companies leverage technology and analyse data to identify and predict potential risks. The wave of digitisation that was prevalent throughout the pandemic is likely to have caused this spike.

  • 34% of respondents say they have a dedicated solution to manage safety, up from 24% in 2021.
  • 51% are investing in improved systems and processes to capture site safety data, up from 29% in 2021.
  • 47% are investing in the integration of data from multiple systems/sources into a single repository, up from 22% in 2021.
  • 63% of construction businesses are now analysing data to identify and predict potential risks, up from 30% in 2021.

Following this increased investment in systems and processes, the survey found that more than half of the Australian construction businesses surveyed have experienced improved safety outcomes (53%) and reduced risk (50%) as a result of leveraging data. Larger businesses (with 100+ employees) achieved a greater impact from utilising their data, with 82 per cent experiencing improved safety outcomes and 74 per cent experiencing reduced risk.

Procore vice president APAC Tom Karemacher said the construction industry has faced a multitude of challenges in the last couple of years, and nevertheless remains resilient and resourceful.

“With the labour shortage currently impacting the industry, it’s great to see companies prioritising worker health and safety while utilising technology to support workers by reducing risk and improving safety in the workplace.”

Related Articles

MATES in Construction partners with EML Group to enhance mental health support

Worrying data on mental health shows new workplace safety approach needed

CIOB launches global survey to address mental health crisis in construction industry

CIOB launches global survey to address mental health crisis in construction industry

Construction industry faces workplace stress crisis, new study reveals

New psychological health report on Australian workplaces

New report identifies psychological health in Australian workplaces

Comments

Leave a comment Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Breaking

  • News
  • Projects
  • Trending
20 Jun

Landscape awards celebrate environment, people, culture and place

20 Jun

WA invests $37.5 million in construction

20 Jun

Central by J.AR Office wins big at interior design awards

19 Jun

Historic partnership reshapes global steel industry

17 Jun

PIPA Awards celebrate excellence and ethical leadership

17 Jun

Leighton Asia wins Elan Emperor contract in India

17 Jun

Perth’s METRONET rail network expands connectivity

16 Jun

SOM completes innovative, sustainable WeBank headquarters

16 Jun

ODUS and Metrics secure $55.68m beachfront site

16 Jun

Hyatt House South Melbourne opens July 2025

16 Jun

Digital twin integration: Australian sites leading construction-phase reality capture

11 Jun

Are we losing the human touch? Evaluating the con tech boom

22 May

How prefabricated green buildings are shaping climate-resilient cities

09 May

More women are building ANZ construction careers, yet still room for growth

14 Apr

Why concrete carbon sequestration could revolutionise the construction industry

  • World of Concrete Asia 2025
  • BOSCH

Online Magazine

    Current Cover
  • Login
  • Subscribe

Subscribe

Subscribe Newsletter and Print Magazine
  • World of Concrete Asia 2025

Associations

Our Titles

  • Share on Newsletter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
© Sage Media Group 2025 All Rights Reserved.
×
Authorization
  • Registration
 This feature has been disabled
 This feature has been disabled until further notice, however you may still register
×
Registration
  • Autorization
Register
* All fields required