Suicide and injury prevention in construction with Milwaukee Tool

Picture of awfblog awfblog September 9, 2024

America's Work Force Union Podcast AWF Milwaukee Tool Mental Health

Milwaukee (1)

Guest Name:

Justin Azbill

Guest Website:

Guest Social Media:

Supportive Documents:

image001-1

Continuing our coverage of Construction Suicide Prevention Week, Justin Azbill, Director of National Health and Safety Strategy for Milwaukee Tool, joined America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss his journey with mental health and how it has led him to assist workers in the construction industry. He talked about the ways Milwaukee is helping workers prevent injuries through ergonomic study and training and the Boots on the Ground Tour this week as part of their support of National Suicide Prevention Month.

Azbill comes from a blue-collar background and didn’t know the meaning of turning down work no matter how stressful. He talked about suffering from depression and sleep deprivation within six months of taking a new role at work. Azbill discussed why he didn’t go through with a suicide attempt after talking with his daughter on that fateful day, and how that discussion helped him to change his path and begin a journey to recovery. Now with Milwaukee Tool, he can travel the country and share his story with construction workers and hopefully help someone through a time of strife.

Over 17,000 building and construction industry workers lost their lives to opioid misuse in 2023. Despite being a tool company, Azbill said Milwaukee is also a people company. He will embark on the Boots on the Ground Tour nationwide this week. Azbill discussed the tour events scheduled and how Milwaukee has enabled him to focus on helping those in the construction industry.

Part of Milwaukee Tool’s work with the trades includes providing tools and equipment to apprentices to help set them up for a successful start to their new careers. Azbill discussed the focus on ergonomics, which helps improve workers' lives through their use of better tools. This ties back into their work to improve mental health concerns and opioid misuse in the construction industry by relieving much of the pressure that causes workers to suffer injuries that could lead to prescription drug medication and potential misuse.

Learn more about the work Azbill and Milwaukee Tool are doing to help workers in the construction industry.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

Suicide and injury prevention in construction with Milwaukee Tool

SUBSCRIBE ON:

After two years, Amazon JFK8 workers learn their union fate

Lowering the suicide rate in the construction industry with the CIASP

August Jobs Report gives hope for lower inflation and interest rates

RECENT EPISODES

After two years, Amazon JFK8 workers learn their union fate

Lowering the suicide rate in the construction industry with the CIASP

August Jobs Report gives hope for lower inflation and interest rates

SUBSCRIBE

NEWSLETTER