knew a fair amount of people that I could talk to about this, and how it affects them, from within the industry, because they had reached out to me over the last year as I began to share my own struggles with mental health. I am thankful for the guests and participants that began to share with me, and began to realize that YES, it is a large number of people being affected by mental health issues and that some of them, you would never suspect they were struggling at all. Yes, it ranged all the way from a shovel guy to CEOs and yes, it takes on many forms and many different things cause the effect of poor mental health. Knowing I was getting into something very serious and very heavy, I asked for the help of Dr. Erin Craw of Fairfield University. Erin was a former podcast guest on Blacktop Banter and had become a friend who I shared my struggles with. My first initial question was,“ What do we do about this issue, for our industry?” Her answer was“ We need to start with data, numbers.” Erin and her team at Fairfield are conducting a survey to collect such data, to give us a real-time baseline to start working from. If you would like to help by taking that survey, please reach out to me via my email listed at the end of this article and I will get it to you and your company. Thanks to Dr. Vince for sharing, it amongst his company at Ajax Paving Industries, for everyone to fill out. I had always asked myself after hearing Dr. Vince speak before,“ Ok, awareness has been made, now what do we do to get this issue solved?” I am proud to say that our friends at Ajax haven’ t just talked about it, they have begun to do something about it. Eric Green went into detail about the program they have created there, that employees have used and shared in, to mitigate issues and bring resolution to people within that organization. They have also helped other asphalt companies implement their own similar programs, including Duval Paving. Something is
being done and we have leadership putting steps, process and strategies together. That was one of the main things said in this presentation, Leadership must take the initiative. What if we notice something right now? Before we are able to get a program or if we don’ t have one at all? Eric detailed the steps to take for addressing these topics, in the session, which I will share below:- Keep it simple( Don’ t ask a lot of heavy questions, right away)- Leadership acknowledges the issues( Get your leadership aware that peers have something going on)- Build a network( get and find support for yourself or others)- Learn what tools you have in your EAP( Employee Assistance Program)- Implement an EAP if you haven’ t yet I will leave you with this. If you want to talk to somebody about this, there is an open line of communication to me. It helped me to have people I could talk to directly, who worked in my field, talked like I do and understood trying to balance everything. Dr. Vince and Eric at Ajax were both very open about reaching out to them in their presentation and Dr. Erin Craw now speaks with asphalt industry community members often. We are all in this together, and the way we find our way out and through, is the same way we finish any project in the asphalt industry, As a Team. Forward. Together.
As always, if you have any questions, insight or criticisms about this article or anything in it, please feel free to email me at marvinjoles @ gmail. com and of course, reach out to me using any form of social media(@ marvinjoles). Stay In The Mix.-Marvin
Marvin Joles is the owner of Wis-Coat Asphalt Maintenance. Visit his website at https:// marvinjoles. com.
THE NEXT GENERATION OF BALLOON LIGHT SOLUTIONS
THE ONLY BALLOON LIGHT WITH A REPLACEABLE SCREW IN LED BULB THAT IS FIELD SERVICEABLE IN MINUTES
Carrying Bag LED Screw In Bulb
• PATENTED SLIDE ASSEMBLY
• PUSH TO RAPIDLY DEPLOY
• NO PATCH KITS
• NO BLOWER MOTOR
• NO SET SCREWS
BOOTH 10086
“ As a heavy equipment mechanic, I worked many nights keeping road construction machinery running. I saw the challenges crews had keeping job sites safe and operational” – Craig Shellman, Founder
Proudly Made in the U. S. A
PLSINC200 @ GMAIL. COM |( 847) 533-3016 www. portablelightingsolutions. net
For More Information On This Advertiser Please Visit www. CallAPE. com / e-inquiry
1.800.210.5923
[ 31 ] August 2025