Fly In Fly Out ? FIFO Lifestyle on Mining Camps in Australia ...

What are the common issues and challenges with regards health and fitness on mine sites?

The common issues and challenges for?fly in fly out?(FIFO) workers regarding health and fitness in mining arise from a combination of work related factors including work time, rosters, shift work and external stressors including being away from family and friends for extended periods. These factors aren?t unique on their own, but is the combination of these factors that in my opinion have strongly contributed to the overwhelming health statistics we are currently seeing in Australian mining.

Probably the most common barrier to a healthy lifestyle (exercise and healthy eating) is lack of time. This isn?t unique to mining and is the most common perceived barrier throughout society, however in mining it does ring true to an extent. Most employees on site are working 12-12.5 hour days. Obviously the?FIFO worker?needs to be awake to get ready before work and finish after. That means that work is taking 13-14 hours of their day. We know the average person needs 7-9 hours sleep each day. Add the hours awake for work with the hours required for sleep and we are left with a narrow window of time. For residential employees the additional external challenges including family, cooking, cleaning, shopping etc mean in my opinion they are more time poor than?FIFO workers. FIFO workers still have family who they will often call, Skype or message each night but don?t have the other requirements on their time.

Other common issues include the lure of alcohol and never ending food. The wet mess is often located right next to food facilities, is a place for socializing, where most camp events are held and with drinks at discounted prices, the financial burden of a regular drinking habit is lessened. This coupled with easy access to prepared food of which there is no limit, gives good reasoning to the shocking statistic of ? of employees being statistically overweight or obese.

Where are the opportunities for improvement?

There is always room for improvement, however I think mining companies today are identifying these opportunities more efficiently now. As well as identifying opportunities for improvement, companies are readily implementing changes to try to minimise and reverse health issues in mining.

This shift can largely be attributed to a better understanding of health. Health is no longer a standalone issue, but is now understood to have importance when it comes to safety and productivity.

Mining studies have shown:

• Healthy employees are 3 times more effective than unhealthy workers.
• Unhealthy employees work 49 effective hours per month compared to healthy?workers? 143 hours a month.
• 18 days annual sick leave is taken by unhealthy workers compared to only 2 days for healthy employees.
• Healthy employees are less likely to suffer from fatigue and sleeping disorders
• Healthy worker have fewer injuries and if injured, return to work more quickly
• Work performance can be improved by 4 to 15 percent if employees participate in regular physical activity.
• Healthy employees have a better ability to access and egress infrastructure during emergencies

It is with this understanding that we have seen improvements in both the facilities and services. These changes are aimed at taking a more proactive approach towards employee health.?FIFO exercise facilities?now aim to cater to a larger population. As well as this Mine sites are now backing proactive health services and screens on site. Here in Tom Price our annual health calendar includes bowel cancer screening, flu vaccination, comprehensive onsite health assessments, smoking talks and consults, skin cancer screening, prostate screening, men?s health month, women?s health month, dietician clinics, fun runs and on site health challenges.

I think as opportunities are recognised for improvement, companies will continue to endeavour to change existing behaviours.

What are the common stresses and demands of the FIFO mining lifestyle on FIFO workers?

1. Maintaining healthy relationships with family and friends. Adequate contact and making time each day to stay in touch.
2. Sharing the workload with partners when at home and at work
3. Maintaining healthy habits at home and at work
4. Traditionally long swings (starting to change now)
5. Affects on children and partners at home
6. Missing important events (birthdays, kids births, anniversaries)
7. Lack of support for FIFO families
8. Routines when at home and when at work can be disruptive to normal family routines
9. Your annual leave can be dictated by roster
10. Difficulty in accessing health and financial services on certain rosters
11. Managing fatigue at work and at home
12. Travel time (interstate FIFO)

Has the attitude towards mine site fitness and FIFO camps changed and how?

The attitude towards mine site fitness and the wider topic of health has changed immensely. The facilities and services have evolved as the links between employee health and their safety is better understood.

The benefits of exercise and fitness on mental and physical health are immense. It is an excellent fatigue management tool. Provides hormone stabilisation and synthesis (helpful in people who are suffering from stress, anxiety and/or depression). Increases confidence and increases social interaction. It is with this understanding and the knowledge of the affects of health on safety and production that is leading to a far more holistic approach when it comes to employee health.

FIFO camps?still provide exercise facilities to employees, however we are now seeing a far greater diversity in these facilities. They aren?t just gyms but now include golf driving ranges, tennis courts, basketball courts, cricket pitches, swimming pools and boxing areas. This variety is largely due to the understanding that a larger population will now utilise these facilities than a traditional gym.

As well as this Mine sites are now backing proactive health services and screens on site. These include bowel cancer screening, flu vaccination, comprehensive onsite health assessments, smoking talks and consults, skin cancer screening, prostate screening, men?s health month, women?s health month, dietician clinics, fun runs and on site health challenges.

The term fitness is now understood to be far more encompassing than a person just being able to run a certain distance, instead fitness refers to physical and psychological fitness for work. It is this understanding that has shifted the approach towards mine site fitness.

Is fatigue management part of the challenge and how do you overcome this?

Fatigue is definitely a part of the challenge.

As spoken about in one of your earlier questions there are many tasks throughout the day which require a time commitment, unfortunately we often see people overreaching and eating into their sleep time. This coupled with length of swings, unidentified sleep issues and shift work mean fatigue is a far more complex issue than it appears on the surface.

We understand that fatigue is extremely important when it comes to miners fitness and their safety. A person 17 hours awake has the same cognitive abilities of a person who is 0.05% BAC. Training, obstructive sleep identification and regular talks on fatigue issues aim to ensure that fatigue is always being looked at.

We have sleep screening which is available to all employees. This screening looks to identify sleep disorders including obstructive sleep apnoea and then initiate appropriate measures to assist people who are identified as having issues. This can range from simply weight loss through to the application of a positive pressure device (CPAP).

Unfortunately there is no gold standard when it comes to length of swings and how shift work is put into these swings. One thing is understood fairly well is that is the traditional shifts need to be looked at. We are now seeing a shift from long swings and short breaks towards a more even time roster and this is one of the ways in which companies are attempting to minimise fatigue related issues caused by shift length.

Fatigue training is also conducted and is actually becoming a mandatory qualification for all employees. In this training sleep psychologists present training to groups of employees. Dependant on a person?s position within the business the length of training and its focuses is varied. Some of the focal points of the training include:

• Eating and sleep
• Affects of stimulants and suppressants on sleep
• Sleep debt
• Healthy behaviours
• Identifying fatigue
• Risks associated with fatigue etc

Due to the multi faceted nature of fatigue it is an issue that will never be completely removed from mining, however mining companies are taking proactive steps in this field.

How do you combat the fact that unhealthy choices still, and will probably always, exist?

Unhealthy options will always exist, as well as this, the rate and amount of these unhealthy foods we are consuming will probably remain on the rise. I think education is still the best tool to combat this as well as a shift in peoples mentality.

A lot of people think that health is a given. This is no longer the case as unhealthy food/drink options become more prevalent, more unhealthy and cheaper. The food landscape that we live in is constantly changing however people are understanding and recognising these changes very differently to as short as ten years ago.

The amount of news articles on coke and its negative health impacts are amazing. From the get go people understand coke and other soft drinks are unhealthy as they have been told from a young age. If they choose to still drink them that is their decision, however at least they have made an informed one. This same level of education is not uniform, I am amazed as to how many food and drink products are ?slipping through?.

A perfect example is energy drinks. Rockstar when released in Australia 6 years ago was 9.6 grams of sugar per 100ml and came in a 473ml can. Today this same drink now has 16 grams per 100ml and comes in both 500ml and 750ml versions. This change was never advertised and now in?one 500ml can?a person is able to have?98%?of their RDI in sugar. Another example is flavoured milks. Some variations contain more than 2000kJ of energy, (approx ? RDI of energy for men and approx 1/3 RDI for women) most coming from sugar and fat.

With proper education people are able to make informed choices based on more than just the availability, ease of intake and taste. Nutrition labels are there for people who care. People need to take charge of their own health and investigate the things they are consuming to see whether they are in fact healthy or unhealthy choices.

What tips and tricks can you offer our readers and FIFO workers?to help them to make better choices?

1. Start with small goals: It is unfortunate but I think the biggest loser has given the majority of people an unachievable illusion as to what rate and level of weight loss they can expect. Current thoughts on weight loss by physicians is that weight loss exceeding 1-2 kilograms per month is unlikely to be maintained for a long period of time, and has most probably been attained through unhealthy behaviours.
2. Don?t fight the battle with only 50% of the army:?Exercise is just as important as diet. The equation is one of the most simple in the world. Energy in (diet) and Energy out (exercise and homeostasis) are the two elements in this equation. Trying to do it all with only one of these elements will hamper your ability to achieve your goals, slow the rate of your achievements and also reduce the likelihood of the changes ?sticking? long-term.
3. The small things really do make a big difference:?If your small vice is something simple like a Kit Kat Chunky each day of the week, by the end of the week you will have brought in almost 10,000 kilojoules of empty calories. For adult males and females this is well above one day?s RDI of energy (almost double the average adult females). If you had a bar only every second day that is still more than a month worth of empty calories you have eaten by the end of the year.
4. Between black and white there is grey:?I see people go through ebbs and flows with their diet and exercise. Often I think waning in adherence and interest to a healthy diet and exercise is brought on by the overzealous attitude towards these things prior. Put simply, people go to hard, burn themselves out and then fall off the bandwagon, often ending up worse than when they started. Gradual change is a more maintainable. If you haven?t exercised for a long time don?t immediately get into 7 day/week training. Build up to it.
5. With food the more you take away, the more you want it:?Have a cheat day that you can look forward to. This often stops those bad foods and drinks creeping back into your daily diet.
6. Listen to your body: If you have aches and pains get them seen to rather than letting them become something that will have you out of action for a long period.
7. Carbs are not your enemy:?at 15.2 kJ/gram they are the lowest energy food per gram when compared to protein (16kJ/gram), Fat (36kJ/gram) and alcohol (29kJ/gram). Research healthy carbohydrate rich foods. Things like vegetables are hard to overindulge in and are important sources of carbohydrates, one of my favourites is sweet potato.
8. When asked what surprised him most about the human race, the dalai llama answered with this:

?the fact that humans sacrifice their health to achieve wealth their whole working lives, only to sacrifice their wealth to reattain their health later in life?

Don?t let this statement ring true for you. Brushing your teeth is no fun but you do it to make sure your teeth don?t rot. Exercise does the same thing for your body?s systems. Get at least 30 mins a day and when you retire you won?t have to live a life determined by your health.

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Source: http://jobcontax.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/fly-in-fly-out-fifo-lifestyle-on-mining-camps-in-australia/

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