GUIDELINES SHOULD be developed to help employers recognise workers at risk of suicide, Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg said yesterday.
Speaking at the launch of a guide to help employers respond appropriately when employees are affected by suicide, Mr Begg said it needed to be recognised that there may be people in the workplace “close to breaking point” or suffering seriously from depression. There needed to be ways to identify those people so that intervention programmes could help them, he added.
He said most employers had very progressive programmes in relation to alcoholism and had developed well-worked-out strategies for intervention. Mr Begg said it had to be acknowledged there could be a link between working conditions and suicide, and that improving conditions could be beneficial for suicide prevention.
Breaking the Silence in the Workplace: A Guide for Employers on Responding to Suicide in the Workplace, was developed by suicide bereavement charity Console and the Irish Hospice Foundation in collaboration with Ictu and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation. It offers advice on how to deal sensitively with the suicide of a colleague, and how to support an employee affected by the suicide of someone.
Copies can be downloaded from console.ieor hospice-foundation.ie, or obtained by calling the Irish Hospice Foundation at 01-6793188 or Console at 01-6102638. Those affected by suicide or concerned about a loved one can contact Console at 1800-201890.
