What do we know about suicide risk in transport-related job?

Road freight: HGV and van drivers

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures on suicide risk by occupation show elevated suicide risk among road freight drivers. Analysis of ONS rates indicates that suicide mortality among HGV drivers is around 20% higher than the national average, rising to around 25% for van drivers^{1 ,2}.

The underlying risk factors are well established and repeatedly reported by industry and drivers themselves. They include long and irregular hours, chronic fatigue, social isolation, time pressure, job insecurity and poor roadside facilities, all of which can compound over time.

TRL’s research for the Department for Transport has also touched on these conditions. Our 2023 study into drivers’ hours and working time examined how fatigue, night work and regulatory pressures affect not only collision risk, but driver welfare, mental strain and the long term sustainability of the role³. This research highlights the normalisation of chronic exhaustion and psychosocial stress in road freight driving, both of which are strongly associated with higher suicide risk.

There are signs of progress. Government and industry have begun to respond through investment in driver facilities and secure parking, delivered on the strategic road network by National Highways ^4,5, alongside a growing focus on driver wellbeing through initiatives such as Driving for Better Business^6,7. These interventions recognise that working conditions and operational environments shape both safety and health outcomes.

However, road freight work can also involve exposure to traumatic incidents, including serious collisions and fatalities on the road network. When this exposure is layered on top of fatigue, isolation and chronic stress, the potential for lasting psychological harm increases. This reinforces the need for post incident support and workforce wellbeing to be treated as integral components of a system level approach to transport safety, rather than as optional measures.

Rail workers

For rail workers, the picture is different but no less serious.

There is no clear evidence that suicide mortality rates among rail workers themselves are substantially higher than average. However, rail staff (particularly drivers, station staff and signallers) are disproportionately exposed to traumatic incidents, including suicides and suicide attempts involving members of the public.

DfT commissioned research shows that this exposure can have long term psychological impacts, including acute stress reactions, PTSD symptoms, sickness absence and early retirement⁸. This evidence supports the requirement for suicide prevention training and post incident trauma support across the UK rail network, now embedded in operating practice.

In transport, suicide risk is therefore not only about who dies by suicide, but also about the impact on workers who are repeatedly exposed to traumatic incidents as part of their role.

Maritime: Seafarers

In the maritime sector, the evidence points to a particularly elevated suicide risk.

International insurer and industry data show that between 5% and 11% of seafarer deaths are due to suicide, with some fleets now reporting that self-inflicted deaths exceed accidental fatalities^9,10,11. Global reviews suggests that when disappearances and suspicious deaths are included, the share may be higher still^12,13.

The UK government has explicitly recognised seafarer suicide as a serious and under reported issue¹⁴. DfT and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency have highlighted systemic barriers including stigma, inconsistent reporting, cultural factors in an international workforce, and deaths recorded as “missing at sea” rather than suicide¹⁵. The UK has also played a key role in pushing for mandatory international recording of deaths at sea, now embedded in amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention¹⁶, which came into force in late 2024.

TRL’s work for DfT on seafarer roster patterns and fatigue, while not focused on suicide, identifies multiple upstream risk factors such as long tours of duty, chronic fatigue, circadian disruption and prolonged isolation from family and support networks¹⁷. When combined with the high lethality of means at sea and limited access to professional help, the system level risk becomes clear.

Construction and the wider transport supply chain

Many people involved in delivering and maintaining transport infrastructure are not always labelled “transport workers”, but they are integral to the system. Construction workers have some of the highest suicide rates of any occupational group in the UK, with certain trades experiencing rates three to four times the national average^18,19.

The risk profile for construction workers overlaps in part with those seen elsewhere across the transport sector. These include transient and insecure employment, long working hours and chronic fatigue, and male dominated cultures where stigma can make it harder to seek help. Many roles also involve regular exposure to physical risk, injury and ongoing pain, which can further compound mental strain over time.

For those working on and around the transport network, there can also be exposure to traumatic incidents and contact with people in crisis, including serious collisions or suicide attempts at or near worksites. Combined with existing pressures, this exposure can add to cumulative psychological strain.

Recognising these risks, National Highways and its suppliers have strengthened their approach to mental health across the supply chain. This approach is now embedded within the Home Safe and Well framework²⁰, which places mental wellbeing alongside physical safety for everyone working on the strategic road network. Sector wide commitments such as the Highways Safety Hub’s Common Intent on Mental Health & Wellbeing²¹have further helped address gaps in support at lower tiers of the supply chain, including access to structured provision such as Employee Assistance Programmes.

Suicide prevention as a transport system issue

Through TRL’s work with National Highways on suicide prevention on the strategic road network²², one message has become clear: outcomes are shaped not just by interventions, but by design, operations and organisational culture.

Measures such as physical interventions at high risk locations, improved incident management, and staff training on post incident support, all sit alongside broader workforce wellbeing. National Highways’ suicide prevention and postvention strategies (with postvention referring to the support provided after a suicide or traumatic incident to reduce psychological harm and future risk) explicitly recognise the impact on employees and supply chain partners, not just on network users.

Looking ahead, there is growing momentum across the sector:

Investment in freight infrastructure and driver facilities
Clear leadership expectations for mental health support, including consistent Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provision across the supply base
Better use of data to understand exposure, fatigue and cumulative risk

Moving from awareness to action

The evidence for action is clear.

Across road freight, rail, maritime and construction, suicide risk increases in working environments characterised by isolation, fatigue, trauma exposure and insecurity.

Transport safety has increasingly embraced the Safe System approach, recognising that deaths and serious injuries arise from the way systems are designed, operated and governed, rather than from individual actions alone. The Department for Transport’s new Road Safety Strategy explicitly adopts this perspective, acknowledging that human error is inevitable, but harm is not²³.

Suicide prevention warrants the same systems based thinking.

Through a combination of infrastructure design, operational policy, workforce support and organisational leadership, the transport sector is well placed to play a meaningful role in reducing suicide risk, for its workforce as well as for the wider public.

If you work in transport, whether in policy, planning, design, construction or operations, this issue sits at the core of your safety remit. Taking mental health and suicide risk seriously is integral to designing and running transport systems that are genuinely safe. Reflect on how your decisions shape working environments and public spaces. Engage with the growing body of guidance and evidence. Start conversations within your organisations and across supply chains.

Suicide prevention is not separate from transport safety - it is integral to it. By acting together, we can design systems that protect life, support people, and truly live up to our commitment that harm is not inevitable.

If you need, or know someone who needs support, help is available through the Samaritans Call 116 123.

References

1. Suicide by occupation in England and Wales: 2020 to 2022 - Office for National Statistics

2. HGV drivers face a suicide rate 20% higher than the national average | LBV Hub

3. TRL | Research into Drivers Hours and Working Time

4. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/better-facilities-for-lorry-drivers-as-winners-of-8-million-funding-revealed

5. Better facilities for lorry drivers as winners of £8 million funding revealed - GOV.UK

6. Driver wellbeing toolkit delivered by Driving for Better Business - Better facilities for lorry drivers as winners of £8 million funding revealed - GOV.UK

7. CALM Driver - Calm driver campaign - Driving for Better Business (co-lab between Driver for Better Business and campaign about living miserably)

8. Understanding-preventing-mitigating-suicides-on-rail-network.pdf

9. https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/crewing/at-least-11-of-seafarer-deaths-due-to-suicide-gard

10. Ignored: the silent tide of suicide at sea

11. Seafarer suicides now outnumber accidental deaths, report reveals :: Lloyd's List