In this episode of Build & Thrive, host Jennie Armstrong sits down with Steve Kerslake in a “very special location” – the Construction Sport Podcast studio – for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from personal experience, to practical solutions, to the uncomfortable questions the industry still struggles to face.
This episode is available as a podcast and video, and if you find yourself nodding along with any part of this blog, it’s well worth watching or listening in full. Steve’s delivery matters: he’s direct, funny, blunt, and deeply human – and that combination is exactly why this conversation lands.
Below is a summary of the key themes, stories and takeaways from the transcript, with a focus on what they mean for the construction industry right now.
From “Acid Steve” to industry advocate
Steve’s route into wellbeing advocacy didn’t start in a boardroom or a strategy workshop. It started on site – and with lived experience.
He joined construction in 2005/2006, straight out of school, and worked on major projects including Crossrail. But alongside the camaraderie and momentum of big jobs, he also noticed something darker: people around him struggling, and his own mental health under pressure.
Steve shares a defining moment from outside work – an assault in 2008 where sulphuric acid was thrown on him – and then describes returning to a construction site within weeks.
The detail that hits hardest isn’t just the incident. It’s how quickly the environment moved on.
Steve Kerslake: “Within a week or two… I was straight back onto a construction project… the banter was high, and I was nicknamed acid Steve.”
He’s not recounting it for shock value. He’s pointing to a culture where the “get on with it” mindset leaves little space to process trauma – and where humour can be both glue and defence mechanism.
That same period included serious health challenges, including ulcerative colitis, multiple operations, and eventually having his large intestine removed. By 2016, the physical issues were part of the story – but the mental load had caught up.
Steve Kerslake: “2016 was mentally coming to a point where I realised I’m doing six to seven days a week… twelve-hour shifts all the time.”
This is a familiar pattern in construction: long hours, relentless pace, and the belief that the hard grind is just part of the deal – especially when people are trying to “make hay while the sun shines” and get ahead financially.
The moment it clicked: “three days to be no one”
The turning point for Steve was not a seminar or a policy shift. It was a challenge: walking the Crossrail route and raising money.
His idea was simple: walk the whole line, station by station – something he believed hadn’t been done across the full route before. It became a three-day, twelve-hours-a-day trek.
Steve Kerslake: “My theory was… we do 12-hour shifts all the time, so as long as we do three twelve-hour shifts of walking, we’ll be fine.”
It wasn’t fine, of course (blisters, hospital visits, exhaustion), but what mattered wasn’t the pain – it was the impact.
One of the men on the walk broke down at the finish line. Steve only understood why afterwards: the man had spent years carrying work pressure and caring responsibilities at home, with no space to decompress.
Steve Kerslake: “I don’t have any time to myself… I have no time to be no one. And we gave him three days to be no one.”
That line explains a lot about why community-based interventions work in construction. Not because people need another training module, but because many people don’t have any space where they’re not “the one who holds it together”.
It also reframed what the walk actually was. It wasn’t “just a fundraiser”. It was a pressure release valve.
Steve Kerslake: “I thought, there’s something in this.”
Why sport works… and why it’s not “just a football match”
Steve went on to build what became Construction Sport, rooted in a belief that sport and physical activity can create a culture shift – but not for the reasons people assume.
He initially wanted something that mirrored structures seen in the military and emergency services: sport as identity, belonging, recruitment and support. But over time, the insight deepened:
Steve Kerslake: “We’ve realised it’s not even the sport – it’s the community that gets built with every event.”
That’s the core message for construction leaders who still view wellbeing as a set of benefits or a checklist. You can buy resources. You can buy programmes. But you can’t buy community without consistent, human effort.
And Steve is clear that selling this idea still isn’t easy.
Steve Kerslake: “It’s a lot of… ‘oh, it’s just a football match’… and I’m like, that’s fine… but if it’s that easy, why aren’t you doing it?”
That question sits behind so many “wellbeing initiatives” that never land. When the industry says it cares, but doesn’t resource action, the message people receive is: this matters right up until it costs time.
Steve also points out the operational reality: site teams are under pressure, and even well-intentioned projects struggle to make space for anything beyond production.
He notes a visible drop-off in fundraising events post-COVID, not because people stopped caring, but because work pressures increased and teams couldn’t justify the time.
The four pillars: a clearer mission (and a bigger ambition)
A major part of the episode is Steve explaining how the charity clarified its purpose and structure. With support from an external consultancy (funded by Aspen Insurance via a foundation), they defined four pillars:
- Engage with the industry (podcasts, events, on-site presence)
- Support people who need urgent help
- Change how construction works (implementation, culture, practice)
- Challenge government and legislation
The second pillar carries some of the most sobering detail in the conversation.
Steve Kerslake: “2021 to 2024, we referred four people… who were at positions where they wanted to take their own life… and through 2025, we had 16 cases come through.”
What stands out is that these cases are not limited to the stereotype of suicide in construction.
Steve Kerslake: “The demographic… wasn’t just men… this is kids and parents and loved ones of construction workers who can’t deal with it.”
It’s an important corrective. Construction mental health is not only “a site issue” – it ripples into families and communities, and it doesn’t always look the way people expect.
Steve also stresses the constraints charities operate under: they can’t always publicise what they do, and they can’t promise support at scale without funding.
The “solutions” that fail: tech, access and real life
One of the most useful parts of the conversation for employers is Steve’s blunt explanation of why certain interventions don’t work – even when they’re well funded.
He describes a major investment into a platform designed to “fix” mental health in construction, and why it flopped: it didn’t match the workforce, it didn’t feel relevant, and it wasn’t built for site realities.
He also shares a concrete example around Employee Assistance Programmes.
Steve Kerslake: “To get them on that platform, you had to have a company email… and now we know… lads don’t have company emails.”
That single point is bigger than it sounds. If your wellbeing strategy assumes a laptop, a login and a corporate comms channel, you’ve already excluded a huge portion of the workforce – especially within SMEs and among self-employed or migrant workers.
Steve Kerslake: “There are still Nokia 3210s banging about the construction industry.”
The takeaway isn’t “don’t use tech”. It’s: design for real life. Start where people are, not where you wish they were.
The RIDDOR argument: “Tell me how that’s not work-related”
The most provocative segment of the episode centres on Steve’s campaign around RIDDOR reporting and the classification of suicide.
He frames it through a construction lens: risk assessments include stress; stress can contribute to suicide; therefore suicide should be treated as a potential worst-case outcome of a workplace risk.
Steve Kerslake: “We factor in everything that could be a risk… now stress is being factored into that… what is the worst-case scenario? Suicide.”
He then challenges the logic gap: if stress is a recognised workplace risk, why is suicide so often treated as entirely “personal” and therefore outside workplace reporting and investigation?
Steve Kerslake: “Tell me how that’s not work-related.”
Importantly, he acknowledges the fear this raises – that employers will be punished for every tragedy and pushes back. His argument is that a clearer framework would help employers, not just penalise them.
Steve Kerslake: “If we know there’s a framework… they will build a framework that everyone can work to… and God forbid anything ever happens… you can show you’ve gone above and beyond.”
This sits alongside a broader point Jennie reinforces: companies often want to do the right thing, but don’t know what “right” looks like in practice – and so money and energy gets wasted on the wrong things.
Jennie Armstrong: “A lot of companies want to do the right thing, but they don’t know what the right thing is.”
Whether you agree with Steve’s preferred mechanism or not, the underlying call is hard to ignore: we can’t improve what we refuse to properly examine.
Trauma doesn’t clock off: what the body carries
Beyond policy and systems, the episode returns again and again to the human cost of “just getting on with it”.
Steve shares stories of workers experiencing traumatic incidents – including fatalities and continuing to work because they’re self-employed and can’t afford not to.
He also describes a colleague who avoided sleeping in the dark for decades after a fatal incident.
Steve Kerslake: “If he sleeps in the dark, he can smell it… he can only sleep when the sun’s up.”
This is where Jennie’s background (she references her “nursing days”) adds weight: construction doesn’t just need awareness – it needs trauma-informed thinking, and support that recognises how stress shows up physically.
Steve talks about stress manifesting through flare-ups and symptoms in his own body, and references the book The Body Keeps the Score as a useful lens.
The practical takeaway for leaders is simple: people don’t leave themselves at the gate. Your programme, your culture, your workload expectations – all of it lands in someone’s nervous system.
What success looks like: fewer busts, more care, less pressure
Jennie ends by asking Steve what success looks like in five years – personally and for the charity.
Steve’s answer is grounded. He doesn’t talk about awards. He talks about the “cogs turning” without grinding people down.
Steve Kerslake: “Success would look like companies giving a damn… to visibly see it… people are proud about it… realising this is a good place to work.”
He also links mental health to the business environment: companies going bust, unstable pipelines, delayed starts and asks whether the industry is connecting that commercial pressure to wellbeing outcomes.
And personally? He wants less pressure, more presence at home, and the kind of joy that shows up in small moments.
Steve Kerslake: “She said, ‘haven’t danced like that for a year?’ and I was like, ‘oh, shit. That’s a sign.’”
It’s a reminder that success isn’t always grand. Sometimes it’s simply having enough headspace to feel like yourself again.
Key takeaways for the construction industry
- Community isn’t a “nice-to-have”. It’s a protective factor.
- Design wellbeing for the workforce you actually have.
- If stress is a workplace risk, we need to get serious about outcomes.
- Prevention beats performance.
- Leaders set the ceiling..
Listen or watch the full episode of Build & Thrive to hear the complete conversation with Steve Kerslake and host Jennie Armstrong.
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📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEoibJLDuFnnT3qSQw37LKPG6xlyvCj7B
Join the Conversation!
Do you have experiences or thoughts on addiction and recovery in construction?
Drop a comment below or share this post to help break the stigma. Together, we can make wellbeing part of the culture – not just the policy.
Thank you to GKR Scaffolding for sponsoring the Build & Thrive podcast and supporting our mission to improve health and wellbeing across the construction industry.
At Construction Health & Wellbeing, we help organisations create healthier, happier, and more sustainable workplaces.
Contact us today to learn how we can support your strategy.
Learn more about the people and organisations mentioned in this episode:
Jennie Armstrong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniearmstrong/
Construction Health & Wellbeing: https://constructionhealth.co.uk/
GKR Scaffolding (sponsor): https://gkrscaffolding.co.uk/
Steve Kerslake:
Construction Sport Contracts Ltd:
- Website: https://www.constructionsport.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/constructionsport
- Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/constructionsport/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/constructionsportcontracts/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConSpoTV
