Fly-In, Fly-Out (FIFO) Mine workers encounter unique emotional and mental health challenges. Hypnosis has shown to be an effective drug-free method of treating conditions such as anxiety, depression and loneliness which are often experienced by mine FIFO workers.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said FIFO workers suffering from mental health conditions sometimes don’t take their prescribed medication for fear of losing their jobs.
This was revealed in a Parliamentary Inquiry.
WA Australian Manufacturing Workers Union State Secretary Steve McCartney said mining industry FIFOs surveyed by the union believed that if their employer found out a worker had a mental health issue by traces of medication showing in regular urine testing it would put their employment in jeopardy.
“The responses showed some of them were so worried that they were not taking anti-depressants,” he said after reviewing the survey of 300 workers.
Pressure
“With the resources construction boom slowing down, leaving workers worried about the future, the pressure on FIFO workers to stay quiet about mental health issues is going to increase.”
Mr McCartney spoke after giving evidence before the WA Parliamentary Inquiry into FIFO work, sparked by union pressure after nine workers in the Pilbara took their lives in the previous 12 months.
He said the reluctance of workers to tell management showed a fundamental cultural problem in the attitude of companies, who had to start addressing mental health in OH&S policies as seriously as physical injury.
Survey comments by FIFO workers included:
“A lot of people are too afraid to take antidepressants short term due to drug testing and as a result management find out a person is suffering from depression and then usually confidentiality is out the window and the whole team finds out.”
“In my experience people who admit to having mental health issues find it hard to keep a FIFO position as if they choose to take medication it comes up in urine tests and once it does the employer won’t have anything to do with them.”
Worried
Nearly 60 per cent of workers said worry about harm to future employment and the reaction at the workplace were the main reasons FIFO workers didn’t seek help for mental health conditions.
About 35 per cent of respondents said fear they could get a workmate struggling with a mental health condition into trouble with management prevented them trying to help.
Mr McCartney said mining bosses’ claims of pastoral care provision through on-site chaplains and helplines had not inspired any confidence.
“I worked in FIFO from ’82 to ’95 and I can tell you there are real issues around FIFO, it’s about isolation from your family, it’s around poor communication from your family, it’s about the culture on the job,” he said.
The AMWU on-line survey revealed that worry about family was a key driver of stress with about 65 per cent citing poor communication links from site to home as a problem.
