League of Champions Shifts Focus to Mental Health in Construction Industry

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The League of Champions is expanding its commitment to worker safety by incorporating mental health into its initiatives, emphasizing the importance of overall well-being in the construction sector.

For several years, the League of Champions (LOC) has been recognized for its unwavering dedication to physical safety in the construction industry. Recently, the organization has decided to broaden its focus, applying the same level of commitment to mental health and well-being for workers. "We’re doing everything we can to keep people safe, but we really have to focus on the mind of the individual," stated Jeff MacIntyre, the incoming chair of the LOC, during the organization’s Annual General Meeting held at Eagle’s Nest Golf Club in Vaughan. "We want to expand our focus into mental health and concentrate on the person underneath the PPE. We’ve done a commendable job on the physical side, and now we aim to see that same rigor and knowledge applied to the mental aspect, the human side of construction."
MacIntyre, who also serves as the executive director of the Grand Valley Construction Association, aims to maintain the momentum that the LOC has built over the years and to enhance the organization further. "It’s continued to grow. It’s continued to gain traction, and we want to sustain that momentum by raising awareness of the impact we’ve made on safety and incidents within the industry," he remarked.
Stephen Agla, the outgoing LOC chair and health and safety director at Steelcon, expressed pride in the achievements of both the organization and the industry over the past year. "What truly makes the League of Champions special isn’t just the events, the partnerships we establish, or the initiatives; it’s the people," he commented. Agla emphasized the collective ability of members and partners to influence significant change across the industry, stating, "We have the opportunity to challenge the status quo, raise expectations, and demonstrate that stronger safety cultures are built through collaboration, leadership, and a shared commitment to doing what is right."
In his executive director’s report, Brian Leech noted that the LOC has expanded its membership to 128 members and has partnered with the Institute for Work and Health to implement a safety culture survey in the spring. Additionally, the LOC has launched a new website, a quarterly newsletter, and a virtual roundtable to address industry issues. The organization has also been working closely with post-secondary trades programs to promote the trades as a safe and prosperous career path for students.
At the AGM, two new awards were introduced: the inaugural Craig Lesurf Construction Safety Leadership Award and the Craig Lesurf Construction Safety Ingenuity Award, named after one of the league’s founding members and president of Gillam Group. The Construction Safety Ingenuity Award was presented to the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) for its See Something, Say Something campaign. Deborah Moskal, the director of stakeholder and client engagement at IHSA, accepted the award, emphasizing its importance as a call to action for workers to speak up about unsafe conditions.
The Construction Safety Leadership Award was given to Clive Thurston, former president of the Ontario General Contractors Association; David Frame, former executive director of the LOC; and Jason Ball, president of Ball Construction. Frame expressed his honor in receiving the award, reflecting on the significant shift in health and safety culture within the industry over the last decade. "When I entered this industry 40 years ago, health and safety was merely something you had to do. Things have changed significantly over the years, and through organizations like the League of Champions, we’re committed to ensuring everyone goes home safely every day," he stated.
Ball, a founding member of the LOC and former chair of the OGCA, highlighted the organization’s goal of fostering a cultural change in safety across the industry. "We may be competitors, but we wanted to share safety practices to help strengthen other companies and create a safer industry overall," he explained.
Following the AGM, several presentations focused on safety, including one by Kevin Brown of Cobalt Safety, a former Ministry of Labour inspector. Brown challenged the traditional focus on hazards, suggesting that it is essential to consider human factors in safety. "What if I told you hazards aren’t dangerous? We’ve been focusing on hazards for so long, we’ve got to ask another question: ‘Is it the right thing to be focusing on?’" he stated.
In another presentation, Beth Kelln, director of strategic development at LivingWorks, discussed the issue of suicide prevention in the construction sector. Research indicates that construction workers die by suicide at a rate 2.4 times higher than the national average. "It’s about applying the same principles of physical health and safety to total worker health and how it positively impacts operational performance," Kelln noted. She emphasized the need for a networked approach to safety that incorporates mental health and suicide prevention into the everyday culture of construction sites, highlighting shared responsibility across all levels of the industry. The introduction of a suicide crisis line in Canada, 9-8-8, was also mentioned as a vital resource available to those in need.

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