Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) Workers As A Special Employment Group

Health issues

In Western Australia, fly-in fly-out (FIFO) lifestyle, is where people are required to temporarily travel to their jobs and live for a period of time on site. FIFO contracts require employees to live and work-away from their families and friends, and return to a location of their choice when they are rostered off/off duty.

Individuals classified as FIFO workers were significantly more likely to suffer from substance misuse such as alcohol and drug abuse and also, suffer from mental health issues such as depression. Substance abuse such as drinking excess levels of alcohol and drug abuse was proven to be more prevalent amongst FIFO workers as 12% of workers were involved in illicit drug use and 21.9% were engaged in risky alcohol intake (ASMJ, 2013). Depression was also proven to be more prevalent in FIFO workers compared to normal employees in 2015 when a university conducted a study and surveyed 629 workers and resulted in 28% of those surveyed showed signs of depression (ABC, 2015).

Analysis of the problem

Substance abuse, more specifically, alcohol and drug abuse was evident in FIFO workers as they often relied on these substances to cope with loneliness and family stress. Risk factors that can lead to substance misuse include; stress, impulsiveness, trauma, depression and eating disorders. A study was taken which presented; workers who spent one to six weeks working on site and spent more than 11 hours a day working, often consumed more than 4 drinks (alcohol) a day and did this more often than 3 days a week (Australian Mining, 2012). Males aged 15 to 44 who engaged illicit drug use and risky levels alcohol were more prone to suicide and mental health issues (Perth Now, 2015). Substance misuse can particularly cause FIFO workers to become socially isolated, cause family and relationship stress, poor decision making, increased likelihood of tiredness on the job and low ability to be attentive and focus on specific tasks.

Depression is also a highly significant health issue among FIFO workers. Risk factors include; trauma, stressful life events, conflict with family, death and financial stress. Researchers published a paper in the ‘Medical Journal of Australia’ which indicated that 30% of FIFO workers demonstrated high levels of psychological distress which contributed to the high levels of depression illustrated in FIFO workers (Medical Journal of Australia, 2018). Younger workers who are between the ages of 18 and 29 were 50% more probable to suffer from depression than older workers, and those with a university degree were half as prone. Those who didn’t have children and partners at home were also expected to suffer more than others (This FIFO life, 2015). This can affect FIFO workers as it can have a substantial influence on their employment performance and can increase risk of suicide. Furthermore, it can cause antisocial behaviour, employees to miss days of work, effect their ability to make decisions, effect their time management, completion of physical work and their ability to communicate.

Prioritising issues

FIFO workers are also prevalent to having higher obesity and overweight rates, anxiety and have an increased risk of suicide.

FIFO workers tend to have a higher obesity and overweight rate, a study conducted by ECU identified that of 35 men in Perth’s north-west, 85% were considered overweight or obese (WA Today, 2014). These rates lead to an increase risk of chronic diseases and higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and/or heart disease. This health issue, whilst still considered a significant issue, is not as of high priority of the previous two health issues as it does not affect their mental state (can lead to this), and is therefore not considered as high priority compared to substance abuse and depression.

Additionally, FIFO workers are also at risk of suffering high anxiety levels. Younger workers aged 18 to 19 were twice as likely to experience anxiety then those aged 50 to 59 (ABC, 2015). Continually, a total of 22% of FIFO miners surveyed also experienced anxiety whilst away from home (ABC, 2015). Anxiety can be considered an issue of low priority in comparison to depression and substance abuse as they can result in more severe consequences whereas anxiety can be considered something that could be prevented before resulting in mental health issues.

Lastly, FIFO workers are also known to have a higher rate of suicide. This can be due to alcohol/ drug abuse, trauma, mental illnesses, stressful life events and financial stress. FIFO workers are likely to not have supportive social relationships, family harmony, connections to health services and good living standards as they are away from their families/partners for weeks, aren’t living at home and tend to spend a lot of time feeling isolated/lonely due to being away from their home and family. Suicide can be considered a lower priority compared to depression and substance abuse as suicide is usually a result of these two factors and if they can be prevented first then suicide can be prevented.

Setting goals

Setting goals is necessary to achieve a positive health outcome. Two goals which can assist in reducing the prevalence of substance abuse among FIFO workers could be to; ‘increase their knowledge on substance abuse and the consequences associated with it’, and to ‘monitor and manage their work hours and prevent excess workload’.

Additionally, goals that can reduce the prevalence of depression and encourage positive health behaviour include; ‘increasing the available mental health services for FIFO workers’, and ‘increase the skills and confidence of workers to approach someone they feel concerned about and recognise their achievements and efforts’.

These four goals can be considered smart goals as they are specific and include who they are aimed at, and for what cause as it addresses the needs of those who are suffering from depression and/or substance abuse. It is measurable as the outcome can be seen and measured by ‘measuring’ how many people feel as though these goals are improving their health due to reducing stress and risk factors related to the health issues and see the decline in how many people are still dealing with depression and substance abuse. Continually, these goals are achievable as they can be seen as challenging for the workplace to put these goals into place but the outcome is necessary as many people will benefit from these goals and it will bring about a positive outcome for the workplace and individuals. These goals are also relevant as they are essential for many individuals who work in FIFO as it is evident through the statistics relevant to depression and substance abuse about FIFO workers and the benefits far out-way the costs necessary to out these goals into place. Lastly, by putting a time-limit such as ‘by the year 2021 we hope to see a decrease in the frequency of FIFO workers who are suffering from substance abuse and depression if these goals are set and strategies to achieve these goals are put into action’.

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Determining strategies

Strategies are imperative as they help to outline the ways in which a goal can be implemented and achieved to improve the health issues, substance abuse and depression.

The first goal for substance abuse involves increasing knowledge of drugs and addictive substances and the consequences connected with it. A strategy which could be put in action to reduce the occurrence of substance abuse within FIFO workers could be to provide drug and alcohol prevention sessions every second month and handout out information such as pamphlets and brochures on how to get help, the risk factors and preventative strategies to reduce the amount of workers experiencing addictive drug behaviour and result in better health behaviour and positive outcomes, such as a decline in the amount of workers involved in the addictive drug culture.

Secondly, the other goal for substance abuse was to; monitor and manage FIFO working hours and avoid excessive workloads. Strategy which will help to combat this goal would be to encourage workers to speak up at an early stage if they feel that their tasks are excessive and to seek guidance approaching priorities to reduce the stress they may feel and reduce the chance of them resorting to substance abuse to cope with the stress and over workload.

The first goal for depression is to increase the availability of mental health services for FIFO workers. This goal can be established through using a strategy such as having more mental health workers on site and offer online services which any FIFO worker can access. Additionally, by running more mental health assessments more often such as once a month for all workers, and providing mental health awareness training for staff and managers. These strategies will achieve the goal of increasing the availability of mental health services as if offers many ways to access help and will therefore decline the rising numbers of depression within FIFO workers.

Secondly, an alternative goal could be to increase skills and confidence of workers to approach someone they may feel concern for and recognise their achievements/efforts. A strategy which could be used to address with goal would be to provide workers with feedback on their task performance and be supportive of them to achieve better and positively encourage them to do better. By recognising when a task has been completed and is done well and commenting on this will also help to reduce the chance of workers developing depression as it will give them a sense of achievement and constructive feedback will also help to encourage them to feel motivated to continue trying and working.

Developing action plans

The first strategy for substance abuse is to provide drug and alcohol prevention sessions every second month and handout out information such as pamphlets and brochures on how to get help, the risk factors and preventative strategies to decrease the number of workers experiencing addictive drug behaviour. This can be implemented by policy makers by making a policy which makes it compulsory for every FIFO worker to attend one of the prevention sessions every second month whilst considering how often they are rostered on. This will assist in achieving more positive health behaviour and lower the rate of substance abuse existing within the FIFO workplace and therefore result in positive health outcomes.

Moreover, the second strategy for substance abuse is to encourage workers to speak up at an early stage if they feel that their tasks are excessive and to seek guidance approaching priorities. This can be applied by authoritative figures which work on the site such as managers who can hold meetings and inductions based on this topic at the start of each new set of staff who are rostered on, just going over why it is beneficial to let them know if they feel they are overwhelmed with a task or the workload. This will result in better health and reduce substance abuse as they will feel less stressed and will reduce the risk factors in which lead to substance abuse.

The first strategy for depression is to have more mental health workers on site and offer online services which any FIFO worker can access. This can be implemented through putting policies in place to make mental health assessments more regular and compulsory for staff and providing all staff and managers with mental health awareness training. This can be done be the members of staff who it is compulsory for them to be trained in mental health awareness, attending seminars which can be held at university’s or specific mental health institutes, to therefore allow the mangers and staff to learn and gain knowledge about this topic and this will have an impact on how they deal with the FIFO workers staff and have positive effects on their health and reduce the amount of workers dealing with depression.

The second strategy for depression is to provide workers with feedback on their task performance and be supportive of them throughout these tasks. This can be done through implementing an authoritative figure whose main job is to give constructive feedback to FIFO workers and encourage them to do their best whilst acknowledging their work or done by manager. This will benefit worker’s health and keep them in a positive mind-set as it will help them to have motivation and feel as though they are being constantly supported and will also help them to feel a sense of achievement as they are being acknowledged for their work.

Evaluating outcomes

If these goals, strategies and action plans are put into action and are taken out effectively it will result in the decline of depression rates among FIFO workers, as it reduces the likelihood of someone experiencing the risk factors of depression as the strategies act as preventive measures to decrease the chance. We can see if these approaches have worked by asking FIFO workers to complete surveys and evaluations to see their opinion and to see if the approaches have been successful in achieving overall better health.

Substance abuse will also decline within FIFO workers as the goals, strategies and action plans will act as preventative actions to reduce the chance of a worker turning to substance abuse as a way to cope with the job. We can also use surveys, question airs and evaluations to consider if the schemes have been positive and effective.