Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
Resources Industry. Presented at the Safety Institute of Australia October 30, 2014 Page - 1 - of 20
Title: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the
Australian Resources Industry
Presenter: Philippa Vojnovic
Philippa has worked in the mental health sector for 17 years and hold a Master’s
degree in Psychotherapy and Counselling, a Graduate Certificate in Business, and a
Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She has written and presented numerous
workshops on topics relating to mental health, including bullying and teen adolescent
violence, and FIFO to professional audiences. Philippa has also published on the
topics of mental health and suicide of FIFO workers. Her doctoral study investigates
the well-being and help-seeking (accessing support) among Fly-In/Fly-Out (FIFO)
employees in the resources industry.
Presenter: Dr Susanne Bahn
Dr Susanne Bahn has 11 years consultancy expertise, including 9 years of research
at Edith Cowan University, in work health and safety practice and processes, risk
management, supervision and leadership and vocational education in the construction
and mining industries. Sue’s specific expertise focuses on induction deafness and risk
blindness and strategies to improve the hazard awareness skills of workers in
hazardous work environments. She has published her work extensively and is the
author of two books “OHS Management: Contemporary Issues in Australia” and “OHS
at Work”. She has over fifty journal articles published in Australian and international
journals, many of which focus on work health and safety issues. In 2013, she was
appointed a Member of the Safe Work Australia Expert Work Health and Safety
Workers’ Compensation Panel. She has a PhD (Business – Health and Safety
Management), a Masters in Human Resource Management, a Bachelor of Education
and a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education.
Presented to: the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA), October 30, 2014 at the Parmelia
Hilton Perth.
Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
Resources Industry. Presented at the Safety Institute of Australia October 30, 2014 Page - 2 - of 20
Hello everyone, I’m Philippa and it’s a pleasure to speak to you about managing mental
health and suicide risk. I’m researching well-being and help-seeking (or accessing
support) among Fly-in/Fly-Out workers in the resources industry, to discover ways to
encourage workers with mental health problems to access support.
This is a topic which I’m really interested in, for a few reasons. My husband worked
fly-in/fly-out, or FIFO as we all know it, for 4 years, and many of our friends do as well,
so I understand the lifestyle and some of the issues which can arise.
I have worked for seventeen years in the mental health field and, as a Psychotherapist
and Counsellor, I’ve counselled many FIFO workers experiencing depression, anxiety
and various issues associated with FIFO work.
As indicated, I’m from Edith Cowan University in the School of Business conducting
doctoral research. I’m a member of the Centre for Innovative Practice, as well as a
founding committee member of a new organisation, the FIFO Australian Community
of Excellence (or FACE). FACE is a non-profit multidisciplinary network interested all
aspects of FIFO work, health and lifestyle and we are launching FACE in February.
I hope that my research outcomes will lead to more effective interventions for FIFO
workers mental health, and at the same time, benefit the mining companies.
It’s a straight forward aurgument that a mentally healthy workforce will be safer, cause
less problems for management, and be more productive. There are convincing
economic and human reasons for promoting mental health at work and for reducing
worker suicide.
Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
Resources Industry. Presented at the Safety Institute of Australia October 30, 2014 Page - 3 - of 20
Have any of you experienced issues around mental health in your workplace? Do you
know what the costs to companies of mental health problems are? Mental health in
the workplace is increasingly recognised as essential. This is partly because the
benefits of good mental health, such as higher motivation and engagement, are
important for achieving company goals. But it’s also because the costs of mental
health problems are devastating. These costs are from reduced productivity, staff
turnover, injury, job strain, bullying, sickness absence, and compensation claims for
mental strain. There’s also an association between mental health problems and
accidents at work.
The financial cost of mental health problems to Australian businesses is around $10.9
billion each year. Workers with mild depression take double the amount of sick days
as other workers. In fact depression alone costs around $8 billion due to sickness
absence and presenteeism (where workers are present but not productive), as well as
$693 million lost because of bullying and job strain. Businesses who implement
strategies to improve and protect workers mental health could gain $2.30 for each $1
invested.
If 25 per cent of the least mentally healthy Australian workers could be raised to the
level of the 25 per cent most mentally healthy, then $17 billion in employer costs can
be saved – that’s a worthwhile investment to me.
If we talk about costs we also need to recognise the more hidden personal costs of
mental health problems, such as poor relationships with co-workers, low self-esteem
and loss of ambition. We must think about mental health at work in a similar way that
we think of physical health and safety.
You’ve probably all seen FIFO mental health in the headlines over the last few months.
There have been 9 reported suicides of FIFO workers in the Pilbara area in the last
year, as well as one linked to the Goldfields. There’s also been a few in Queensland.
Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
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There’s a lot of talk about high rates of mental health problems and suicide, and a
political inquiry is underway. (in fact, I’ve spent a good part of the last month writing a
submission for the inquiry).
I liken these reports to ‘the miner’s canary’ - In the old days, coal miners took a caged
canary with them underground. If the canary dropped dead the worker knew the mine
was filling up with gas, and got out of there. So the canary acts as a warning of danger.
In this way, the reports about high rates of mental health problems and suicide are the
miner’s canary, - they are highlighting potential risk in the FIFO working arrangement.
FIFO itself doesn’t cause mental health problems, but it does expose workers to risk
factors. And the good news is, risk can be minimised and managed. As I’m sure you
as safety professionals are all very aware of. So what do we know about the mental
health of FIFO workers in the mining industry?
Not all FIFO workers will experience mental health problems – about 70% don’t.
Although this topic is all over the media, only about six studies have actually measured
mental health among FIFO workers with proper diagnostic tests. They have found
some mixed results.
One study found no mental health problems, the others have found higher levels of
mental health problems than the general population.
The key mental health issues which have been identified across research studies are:


Feelings of isolation and loneliness: this reported across research studies
regardless of education level, profession, or roster duration. So that’s an
important one.
Stress, which gets worse for some people during the home to work transition
periods.
Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
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




Depression, which is likely to influence employment performance and increase
risk of suicide.
Anxiety, this this effects sleep, concentration, employment performance, and
irritability.
Substance misuse, while mining companies are excellent at testing workers
for substances, some FIFO workers use substances on their R&R period.
Amphetamines are particularly popular because they leave the body quickly
and isn’t as likely to be detected by testing by the time they go back to site. And
why they do this, to some extent doesn’t matter but there seems to be a sense
of making up for lost time. What Drug use does, is it indicates that these guys
have limited coping strategies. Drug use often increases in stressful situations,
and can interfere with work tasks and, obviously, safety. Even if the drug has
left the body, the after effects are still present, like a hangover.
Sleep problems, most FIFO workers work 12 hour shifts – now the industry
may not be any more dangerous than others, but it’s certainly less forgiving of
mistakes, particularly if you are working with explosives and heavy machinery.
Less than 6 hours sleep and our brains work like we’ve had a couple of drinks.
It also effects our mood, coping ability and concentration.
Limited social network, has been identified by research as a real issue with FIFO
workers. Remember that they are in remote locations with often limited means and
time for communication. Also, often when they go back home on their R&R, their
Perth based friends are working, and there’s a sense of disconnection. Having
limited social support is likely to impact on workers accessing support for mental
health problems when they need it, and to intensify those feelings of isolation and
loneliness.
Over 2,000 people die by suicide each year in Australia which is twice the road toll! It’s the
leading cause of death in men aged between 25-44 years.
Risk factors increase suicidal behaviour while protective factors decrease suicidal
behaviour as they improve our ability to cope with difficult circumstances. An example of a
Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
Resources Industry. Presented at the Safety Institute of Australia October 30, 2014 Page - 6 - of 20
risk factor is social isolation, and an example of a protective factor is social support. People
who attempt suicide usually have many risk factors and few protective factors
Why do people suicide? There are no easy answers and sometimes the reasons are never
fully uncovered. It may be the only way someone can see to escape a seemingly hopeless
or painful situation.
It can be an impulsive act, and it can happen with very little warning and sometimes no
apparent signs. For example, who was here was shocked a few months ago when actor
Robin Williams took his own life?
 50% of suicides are by people with mental health problems, but it doesn’t have to be.
Often it’s an impulsive act.
 1 out of 3 suicides involve alcohol or drugs.
What we don’t often hear about is suicide attempts, but they happen a lot more than
you realise: for every suicide, there are at least 50 suicide attempts. People who have
attempted suicide in the past are far more likely to die by suicide. They need immediate
and appropriate professional care. They will also need ongoing support and follow-up.
Suicide is mainly a male issue. In work-related suicide (where the coroner identifies
work as a significant cause in the death), then men are 7 times more likely to die in
this way than women.
As you know, in Australia we have a work health & safety requirement to ensure the
wellbeing of workers. My qualifications are in psychology, counselling and business,
not WHS; However luckily, my supervisor, Dr Sue Bahn, is an expert in this field. She
is the CEO of Tap into Safety, the author of over 50 published papers, the author of
two books, as well as an adjunct senior lecturer at the School of Business at Edith
Cowan Univsersity. Sue also designs some really innovative safety equipment for the
mining industry. I will let Sue talk to you about safety requirements and regulations for
a few minutes now, and then if you have any specific WHS questions at the end of the
presentation you can direct them to Sue.
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“I will only speak for a minute or so to situate this discussion in the work health
and safety obligations. I will be arguing on the basis of the WHS Model Act and
the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022 because there is
every indication that WA will be embracing the new Act next year.
Section 19:3 (f) of the Model Act outlines the Primary Duty of Care requirements
of employers in terms of monitoring the health of workers and this includes
mental health and wellbeing. The AWHSS has identified mental disorders as a
priority focus in organisations for the next 8 years. Safe Work Australia has
produced a Fact Sheet that provides information on Preventing Psychological
Injury under the WHS laws wherein psychological injury is viewed as a result of
a failure to address psycological hazards.
You have a clear and direct duty to provide support and assistance in this area
with evidence that you are complying. This includes reviewing incident reports,
workers compensation claims, patterns of absenteeism, sick leave, staff
turnover, and staff complaints. One-on-one discussions, focus groups and
observations are suggested as pro-active actions that help you to meet your
requirements to consult with your workers. The key message here is you have
a duty and you need to provide evidence that you are complying. I will now hand
you back to Philippa who will discuss these obligations in the context of FIFO.”
Doctor Susanne Bahn.
Thank you Sue. As you can see, there are important organisational reasons for
promoting mental health at work. So we know that mental health problems cost
Australian Industry billions every year. These costs are from reduced productivity,
absenteeism, and injury. There’s also an association between mental health problems
and accidents at work. So we understand that there are significant organisational
costs.
Mining companies also lose out when a worker suicides. There are high financial
costs, including closing the mine for a day (or longer) if the suicide occurs at work.
Barrow Island operations have reportedly been halted on a number of occasions,
according to my participants, due to worker suicide and suicide attempts. This costs
millions each time, you can probably imagine. Other outcomes of worker suicide for
the organisation are Work Health and Safety implications, liability claims, and an
increase in insurance premiums.
Worker suicide also does tremendous damage to the company reputation. For
example, France Telecom got a lot of negative publicity after the suicide of 25 of their
employees’ within two years. The exposure of the suicides led to an investigation, firing
the CEO, and union action. The sign held by the protester in this picture says “there is
no price on life”.
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Let’s go on now to talk about my research. The broad questions I’m asking are:
1. To what extent are symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress experienced by
FIFO workers?
2. To what extent is well-being mediated by employment conditions (such as rostering)
and how well adjusted workers are?
3. What’s the influence of well-being, adjustment and individual differences on helpseeking?
4. How do FIFO workers experience help-seeking, particularly in terms of where they
would go for help, the stigma about doing that, and the likeness of them actually
accessing that support.
I’m surveying FIFO workers and then I’ll do follow-up interviews to explore some topics
in death. Dr Sue Bahn and I (along with Professor Michelson and Dr Jackson) have
designed a model which you can see here, and this is being published by a journal
later in the year. We will test this model through statistical techniques to determine the
strength of relationships between FIFO employment conditions, adjustment, individual
differences, well-being and help-seeking.
These variables, and their relationships, have implications for organisational and
individual health outcomes. I could really use your help to get my survey out there
because the more responses I have, the more useful the results will be.
Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
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We know that there is a big variety of FIFO work, between the type of job, roster, and
location. The map on the slide is all the FIFO destinations in WA – the red lines are
airports, and the blue lines are airstrips. In WA most workers fly out from Perth, but
they also fly from regional centres like Albany and Bunbury. Mainly they fly to the
Pilbara and Goldfields.
The majority of FIFO workers are employed as (32%) are machinery operators and
drivers, (27%) technicians and trades workers and (14%); professional roles. There
are also support service roles, such as cleaners. The vast majority of these employees
work full-time hours, with 54 per cent working over 60 hours per week. Often it’s hot
and often it’s noisy. FIFO work is well paid. So most FIFO jobs can be considered
intensive, pressured, and yet financially rewarding all at the same time
Some extraction work occurs in open pits, some underground. Who here has been
underground? I was lucky enough to be invited to visit an underground mine last week
which was amazing – here’s a photo of me more than a kilometre below ground on a
site visit. I was really impressed by the levels of safety, and blown away by what it felt
like. It was really hot and humid and the extractor fans made a huge noise. I was really
glad that I had that opportunity because now I understand more about what it may be
like to work there for 12 hours at a time.
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The employment conditions of FIFO work has been likened to the military, or a prison
by some people, and some workers really like the regimentation. As you can see by
this quote from one of my participants he says “I thrive on a regimented lifestyle, so
the FIFO lifestyle is a good fit for me”. So this style suits some workers well.
The issue of rosters effecting mental health has been discussed quite a bit.
Compressed rosters, like those in construction, have been linked to mental health
problems, and further research by my colleague Libby Brooks at Murdoch has found
it’s mainly the roster balance, or evenness, that’s important. So a 4 weeks on/4 off is
probably no worse than 8 days on/6 days off. The family however usually prefer the
shorter swings. What we see here is also a trade-off between higher pay on longer
swings to a lower pay for the shorter swings, and some workers would prefer to take
the higher pay.
In August there were worker strikes at Curtis island because the workers were on 4/1
rosters and wanted to go to the shorter rosters. What ended up happening is they kept
the longer rosters and accepted higher wages.
The Australian mining industry is very male dominated, with about 88% men, and with
a ‘macho’ workplace culture. This is not a problem in itself; however it can make it
difficult for women to ‘fit in’ and it can also be difficult for migrant workers.
Here’s a question for you? Shall we hire more females’ worker? BHP (Through one
of their subsidiary companies) are hiring more females due to their safer work
behaviours. The Australian Mines and Metal Association set a goal to increase women
in the sector to 20 per cent by 2020. Given that men are at a higher risk of suicide, do
you think we ought to hire more women? This may become a popular choice over the
next few years.
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Part of what I’m looking at is the role of adjusting to the FIFO working arrangement.
Fitting in socially is really important when the workers live and work together for long
periods.
What other research shows is that how well a worker adjusts to the actual work role is
not that important. Sounds funny, doesn’t it: However how well workers adjust socially
and to the general conditions, like the food, is really crucial to whether they will stay or
leave that job. In my survey, there’s room for people to leave comments. I’m surprised
at how many are about food! For example, this quote by my participant: “The thing I
mostly find is the food is not really up to home standard,” the second part of that quote
is important too “a lot of the people due to long hours don't mix or socialize”.
Socializing is part of adjustment, and is important for a number of reasons:
Interpersonal relationships help workers adjustment to the FIFO working arrangement,
it helps them want to stay which is good for the organisation, and it means that there’s
someone who’ll be around to talk with and provide a sense of mateship. This can help
build a sense of community and connection, which is often missing for FIFO workers.
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Let’s talk about support programs and barriers
Receiving support for mental health problems and suicidal thoughts is essential to help
people recover. There are two types of support: formal (doctor, counsellor), and
informal (mates, parents). Workers can also use self-techniques (relaxation and
coping strategies).
This is Rhys Connor, a 25 year old FIFO worker, with his son. It’s been a year sice
Rhys killed hiself in his work accomodation. Although he had seen the company
psychologist, and had attempted suicide just nine days before his death, the company
Rhys worked for was unaware of any risks.
There is a fear about the confidentiality of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP).
Most companies do offer support programs, but they’re underused because there’s
stigma around getting help, and workers are afraid that they will lose their jobs.
This stigma about mental health problems is unfortunately pervasive in our culture:
Here’s a riddle for you: A man and his son are driving to watch the football. They have
a car accident. His son survives but is in critical condition. His father rushes him to the
hospital and he’s prepped for surgery. The surgeon enters the operating room, looks
at the boy and says, “I can’t operate on this boy. Who is the Surgeon? Any ideas who
the surgeon is? It’s his mother. Now this is an example of how gender stereotypes are
so deeply ingrained in our culture that we automatically think of a surgeon, or a Doctor,
as a man. If you didn’t get it, don’t worry: I’m doing my doctorate and I’m female and I
still didn’t get it! I’m telling you this to show you that these stereotypes are hard to get
rid of. The same is true for the stereotypes around mental health problems.
Imagine that you have a colleague who has high blood pressure or diabetes. Getting
them to a doctor for diagnosis and treatment would be promoted and it wouldn’t affect
your relationships with them, would it? But now imagine that the guy you work with
has bi-polar disorder and is taking prescribed medication. Do you feel the same way
about him that you would if he had high blood pressure? There is an underlying stigma
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about mental health problems which makes it harder for everyone to deal with it
effectively.
Here are two comments from my research participants about accessing support:

“Although available, you are deemed a head case and people think different of
you, in particular – management” 23 yr. old FIFO worker

“honestly don’t trust management with personal issues” 31 yr. old FIFO worker
There are a lot of myths about mental health problems. For example,
“Myth: Mental health problems are caused by a personal weakness. Fact: It’s not a
character flaw. It’s caused by genetic, biological, social and environmental factors.
Seeking and accepting help is a sign of strength.
Myth: People with a mental health problem never get better. Fact: With the right kind
of help, most people do recover and lead healthy, productive and satisfying lives.
Myth: People with a mental health problem can “pull themselves out of it”.
Fact: It’s not caused by personal weakness and is not “cured” by personal strength”
WA government, accessed from: www.mentalhealth.wa.gov.au
Three out of four people with a mental health problem say that they have experienced
stigma. Stigma sets someone apart from the group in a way that they are stereotyped,
where people have negative attitudes to them, and they are discriminated against.
Stigma causes:
 shame
 blame
 hopelessness
 reluctance to seek or accept help
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Stigma can also mean that, by association, mental health professionals are seen as
abnormal. I can’t tell you how many times when I‘ve told people that I’m a
psychotherapist that they look at me funny and ask if I’m going to ready their mind we can’t really do that!
A 2006 Australian study found that
 “nearly 1 in 4 of people would not employ a person with depression
 around a third would not vote for a politician with depression
 one in 5 said that if they had depression they would not tell anyone”
How can we challenge stigma?
We are all responsible for creating a mentally healthy workplace. Some strategies are:
 “learn and share the facts about mental health problems
 get to know people with personal experiences of mental health problems
 When people you know show negative stereotypes, say something!
 offer the same support to people when they are physically or mentally unwell
 don't label or judge people with a mental health problems, treat them with
respect and dignity as you would anyone else
 Sending staff to Mental Health First Aid training can help them to learn what to
do in a mental health crisis, as well as appropriate ways to respond to mental
health issues.
 Talk openly about it: The more hidden it remains, the more people believe that
it is shameful”. Do you remember Geoff Gallop, the former WA premier, who
resigned to tackle his depression? His bravery has done a lot to reduce mental
health stigma in WA, but there is still some way to go, especially in the very
male, very Aussie environment like FIFO work.
You as safety professionals are ideally placed to have an important role in mental
health because workers trust you and don't fear the same consequence as from their
direct supervisors.
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There are strategies we can all use to improve mental health and reduce suicidal
tendencies. These include:
• Look after relationships: Family and friends can listen, provide support, and
may have helpful ideas or know where to go for help in all sorts of situations.
For FIFO workers, it may be worth making friends on-site, and having regular
contact with people back home. For FIFO parents, an idea I heard from a
colleague Cath Ashton, is to write letters to your kids or in a diary when you’re
on-site and then give it to read when you get back home. This can help you
maintain those relationships.
• Think well of yourself: Identify your strengths and what you are good at.
Spend time and energy in developing new skills and planning new goals for the
future.
• Maintain health: Look after your physical health. Diet and exercise impact our
thinking. Most camps have healthy alternatives, and sometimes people chose
unhealthy alternatives as a way of coping.
• Practice helpful ways of thinking: Challenge negative thoughts, look for
alternative solutions to problems, and look at situations optimistically.
• Develop connections: Get involved in community activities such as social or
sporting activities, it will help to broaden social networks and reduce feelings of
isolation. Many sporting teams now accommodate for FIFO workers, so they
can play games on their R&R, or sub in with other FIFO workers.
• Don’t tackle major problems alone: Ask for help and support when needed,
don’t be afraid of expressing your emotions, and offer help to other workers
around you.
So we have talked a bit about why it’s important for organisations to protect worker
mental health and risk manage. But how do organisations achieve this?
Companies may feel powerless to act about these ‘personal’ issues; however worker
mental health and suicidal behaviour is certainly an organisational issue too. And
research shows us that organisational strategies can have a real impact on improving
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worker mental health and actually reduce suicide rates. So that’s great news! And
that’s what we all want, right?? First, company’s need to be clear about their
responsibility to protect worker mental health, Which Dr Bahn has helpfully explained.
Some resources companies in Australia have implemented good initiatives to promote
mental health and these should be further encouraged. Workers on contracts, rather
than ‘employees’, often have access to less support so it’s important that they be
included too.
As we discussed, interpersonal relationships are important. One of the other reasons
FIFO workers don’t ask for help is because they’re men, and men have all kinds of
barriers to asking for help (or reading maps if you’ve ever read the book ‘men are from
mars, women are from venus’).  The majority of FIFO workers are men, and men
prefer to access support in different ways to women. For example, a man is often more
likely to talk to his wife or mates than to formal support services.
So what we have is a very male dominated workplace culture which can be negative
(such as ignoring feelings, coping through self-medicating with alcohol and drugs) or
positive (like mateship, mentoring). A strategy to improve FIFO worker mental health
is to encourage men’s support groups on-site amongst themselves, so it’s more
informal. Peer support and promotion of positive relationships with co-workers may
reduce isolation and loneliness, as well as arguments/disagreements with co-workers,
which are identified as risk factors of work-related suicide. This strategy has been
successfully implemented in the Queensland construction industry in an effort to
reduce high suicide rates, and is an approach which uses the existing work force.
It’s also a good idea to regulate rostering and educate workers on the FIFO lifestyle
and mental health issues during the on-boarding and exit stages. An idea I’m going to
roll out is on-site mini mental health libraries with good books and handouts on mental
health. This is really cheap, and easy to do, and if any of you are interested in this feel
free to contact me and I can recommend some good resources for you.
Improved employee mental health screening is another option to help reduce risk: A
careful employer will exercise some degree of caution when choosing someone for a
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position. To make a proper and careful judgement requires an assessment of a
prospective employee's personal stability. Among other matters for consideration is
the possibility that the health and safety of co-employees are at risk if a person of
evident mental instability is taken on. So this is a balance between not discriminating
against people with mental health problems and being careful about the level and type
of mental health problems and consequences. For example, someone with mild
depression who is receiving treatment, compared to someone with untreated suicidal
behaviour. As I said, a certain amount of this is good risk management (hence the
safety hats on the slide). Some companies do conduct employee psychological
screening which can help to identify suitability for FIFO work but it may also be
beneficial if mental health is then monitored, for example as part of an annual review.
This can be viewed as part of building a mentally healthy aware workplace, which can
also reduce the stigma around mental health problems.
Another strategy is to encourage workers to use anonymous on-line tool kits (such as
from R U Ok?) which can help to check their mental health and work out if they may
need some additional or professional support.
We need to aim to have zero suicide deaths just as we aim for zero accidental deaths,
because suicide is preventable. I know that some resources companies are working
closely with the families of FIFO workers who have died through suicide in an effort to
educate FIFO workers and managers, and I think that this is a helpful approach
because it uses the voices of lived experience which is much more impactful than
reading it from a book.
Workers with mental health problems may be perfectly well supported by their mates
but If you have a worker with suicidal thoughts and behaviours, they need professional
support – they really will need the supervision of a GP or a pschologist, because they
need to have safety plans put in place, they may need medication, and this is where
you really must have a mental health professional.
Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
Resources Industry. Presented at the Safety Institute of Australia October 30, 2014 Page - 18 - of 20
There are other barriers to workers accessing the support that management may
provide: Some of the things that get in the way are:
•
EAP access hours are usefully open business hours and are in Perth.
•
Skype counselling sounds like a good idea, but workers report that it’s difficult
to use, especially with limited reception at some sites.
•
Phone counselling – which is most often promoted for suicidal people – is
being shown by my early data trends as an unfavorable option for workers. The
majority are saying that they are very unlikely to access phone counselling.
•
There’s been a lot of promotion of on-site Chaplains – however my research
shows that most FIFO workers are really reluctant to engage with them.
Here is a quote from one of my participants: “Most sites have posters about seeking
help. But site services are a chaplain, should be a psychologist due to being trained
for mental health issues”. 39 year old FIFO worker. So there’s a sense of not trusting
that a chaplain will know how to handle mental health issues. There may also be a
sense that if you’re not religious, then you don’t visit the chaplain.
I've only touched on the organisational strategies that you can use to manage mental
health and suicide risk - if you are interested in knowing more, you are welcome to
contact me for more in depth information.
Despite the devastating impacts of FIFO worker suicide on the family, co-workers, and
companies there are limited studies; mine is one of the first. My research is discovering
ways to encourage workers with mental health problems and suicidal thoughts to
access support, which will benefit both the workers and the resources companies.
Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
Resources Industry. Presented at the Safety Institute of Australia October 30, 2014 Page - 19 - of 20
At this stage of the presentation, Philippa discussed early data trends in her current
research. For up to date information on the study, please contact Philippa on the
details displayed below. References are available upon request.
Philippa Vojnovic
PhD Candidate
Centre for Innovative Practice
School of Business
Edith Cowan University
270 Joondalup Drive
Joondalup, WA 6027
Phone: +61 410 152 992
Email: [email protected]
Philippa Vojnovic: Managing Mental Health and Suicide Risk among FIFO Workers in the Australian
Resources Industry. Presented at the Safety Institute of Australia October 30, 2014 Page - 20 - of 20