The Silent Struggle: Mental Health in the Crane Industry and Its Impact on Workforce Development

30 Second Takeaway

The crane industry’s skilled labour shortage cannot be solved by wages alone. Jennifer Gabel of JK Crane argues that mental health, workplace culture, and lived experience are now decisive factors in workforce retention, safety, and diversity. Addressing mental wellbeing is not just a moral responsibility it is essential to the future of the lifting industry.

An Industry Built on Strength But Carrying a Hidden Load

The crane industry is widely recognised for its resilience, technical expertise, and critical role in infrastructure development. However, beneath the towering cranes and complex lifts lies a silent struggle that directly impacts the industry’s future: mental health.

Crane professionals operate in high-pressure environments, often working long hours in isolation while managing significant safety risks. While physical hazards are heavily regulated and documented, the psychological toll of this work has historically been overlooked.

This imbalance affects not only individual wellbeing, but also safety outcomes, workforce retention, and the industry’s ability to attract new talent.

Understanding the Scope of Mental Health Challenges

Mental health challenges in the crane industry are complex and cumulative. Chronic stress, fatigue, anxiety, and burnout directly impair focus, judgement, and situational awareness — all critical in high-risk lifting operations.

When left unaddressed, these challenges contribute to:

• Increased incident risk

• Long-term health consequences

• Loss of experienced professionals

• Declining interest from new entrants

Ignoring mental health does not make the problem disappear — it compounds it.

The Skilled Labour Gap: Treating Symptoms Instead of Root Causes

For more than a decade, the crane industry has repeatedly raised concerns about the shrinking skilled workforce. In response, outreach efforts have focused on career expos, recruitment campaigns, and highlighting strong wages without student loan debt.

But this approach misses a fundamental point: pay does not compensate for poor lived experience.

A useful parallel can be seen in South Korea, where financial incentives have failed to reverse declining birth rates. The reason is simple money does not resolve deeper issues of treatment, equality, and quality of life.

The same dynamic exists in the crane industry.

Younger generations were raised to expect better than their parents’ working conditions. When they demand respect, balance, and psychological safety, it is not entitlement it is alignment with the values they were taught.

Young workers do not want to stay with companies that do not treat them well. Pay and benefits do not outweigh daily experience.

How Mental Health Directly Impacts Workforce Development

Mental health is not a “soft issue.” It has direct, measurable consequences for workforce development:

1. Productivity Loss

Anxiety, depression, and burnout reduce concentration and increase error rates.

2. High Turnover

Untreated mental health challenges push skilled professionals out of the industry, increasing recruitment and training costs.

3. Safety Risks

Mental strain compromises decision-making. In crane operations, that risk can be fatal.

4. Team Breakdown

Stress erodes communication and trust essential components of complex lifting operations.

5. Lack of Diversity

Industries that fail to address mental wellbeing struggle to attract women and minorities. As in biology or finance, lack of diversity weakens resilience.

Breaking the Stigma Starts with Leadership

One of the greatest barriers to progress is stigma. In an industry that prizes toughness and endurance, mental health struggles are often misinterpreted as weakness.

This culture discourages workers from seeking help until problems escalate.

What Industry Leaders Can Do

Education and Awareness

Mental health education reduces stigma and saves lives. Programs that address both workers and leadership create real change.

Support Systems

Access to mental health professionals, peer support, and confidential helplines must be standard not optional.

Work-Life Balance

Reasonable shifts, rest periods, and time off without penalty directly reduce burnout.

Genuine Open Communication

Mental health initiatives must be authentic. Leadership must model empathy and vulnerability often requiring unlearning long-held beliefs.

Proactive, Human-Centred Policies

Mental health check-ins and progressive family leave policies signal that workers are valued as people, not just labour. These policies are also critical to attracting women into the industry.

A Stronger Industry Starts with Healthier People

The crane industry stands on the shoulders of its workforce.

Addressing mental health is not optional it is essential to:

• Safety

• Retention

• Workforce growth

• Diversity

• Long-term industry sustainability

By improving lived experience and psychological safety, the industry can close the skilled labour gap and build a healthier, more resilient future.

About the Author

Jennifer Gabel

Jennifer Gabel is a crane industry professional, mental health advocate, and thought leader focused on workforce wellbeing and cultural change within construction and lifting.

Jennifer comes from a multi-generational crane family her family owns Lomma Crane, giving her firsthand insight into crane operations, ownership responsibilities, and the human realities behind fleet management and project delivery. This background uniquely positions her to understand both the operational pressures of crane businesses and the personal toll those pressures can place on workers and families.

Currently owner ofJK Crane, Jennifer combines industry experience with advocacy for mental health, inclusion, and leadership accountability, championing a future where safety includes both physical and psychological wellbeing.

About JK Crane

JK Crane is a crane service provider supporting lifting operations across construction and industrial projects. The company places strong emphasis on safety, professionalism, and workforce wellbeing, recognising that successful lifting operations depend on both technical excellence and healthy, supported people.

Website: https://www.jkcrane.com

About Lomma Crane

Lomma Crane is a family-owned crane company based in NYC with deep roots in the lifting industry. Known for its operational expertise and long-standing commitment to safety and reliability, Lomma Crane represents the generational knowledge and responsibility that continues to shape the crane sector today.

As a family-owned business, Lomma Crane understands that the health and wellbeing of its workforce is inseparable from long-term business success.

About Construct Your Health

Construct Your Health is an education-driven initiative founded in 2021 to improve understanding of physical and mental health in the construction industry.

The program delivers workshops, leadership training, and practical resources for both workers and employers, addressing topics such as mental health awareness, burnout prevention, addiction, and suicide risk. A defining feature of Construct Your Health is its impact after every workshop, participants have reached out seeking support, resources, or simply to say they felt seen and understood.

Construct Your Health exists to break stigma, build healthier workplaces, and ensure that construction professionals are supported as peoplenot just producers.

Website: https://constructyourhealth.com

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is mental health a critical issue in the crane industry?

Because high-risk lifting requires constant focus mental strain directly impacts safety and performance.

Is pay enough to attract and retain workers?

No. Pay matters, but it does not compensate for burnout, poor treatment, or lack of balance.

How does mental health affect safety?

Stress and fatigue reduce situational awareness and decision-making, increasing incident risk.

What role does leadership play?

Leadership sets culture. Without genuine buy-in, mental health programs fail.

Can addressing mental health help solve the skilled labour shortage?

Yes. Healthier workplaces retain skilled workers longer and attract new entrants.