By Dr Cheryl Yam and John Curtin Distinguished Professor Sharon K. Parker, Centre for Transformative Work Design, Future of Work Institute, Curtin University
While securing high levels of safety has always been a top priority in the mining industry, recent years have seen a spotlight shone on the state of mental health, as well as bullying and sexual harassment.
Increased attention on working in the Western Australian mining industry over the last few years has uncovered a number of concerning issues involving mental health, safety issues and workplace culture.
This led to a response from the Western Australian Government and a commitment to improving the well-being of resources sector workers.
The Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Program Landmark Study was commissioned by the Western Australian Government in December 2021 to design and implement a project assessing the mining industry, regarding three focus areas:
- Creating mentally healthy workplaces – managing psychosocial hazards and promoting positive practices at work that support mental health and well-being
- Building a culture of safety and respect with safe, gender-equitable, respectful and inclusive workplaces
- Preparing for workplace safety in future mining – training the future mining workforce on work health and safety, including psychosocial hazards and controls and by addressing emerging risks and fostering innovation and research in mining health and safety
The Centre for Transformative Work Design, housed in Curtin University’s Future of Work Institute, was engaged as an independent research team to investigate these three focus areas.
This large-scale, multi-source, multi-method study in the Western Australian mining industry is the first of its kind.
Understanding aspects of the industry
As part of the overall MARS Program Landmark Study, previous reports have reviewed and gathered multiple sources of data. Three prior reports have been published as part of the Landmark Study and formed the foundation of the research discussed here:
- A desktop search of annual reports and other publicly available reports by ASX200 companies to understand the local landscape
- A literature review of existing academic studies investigating these topics of interest
- A survey of Human Resources and Work Health and Safety managers and professionals on the policies and practices within their companies
Understanding workers’ perspectives and experiences
In mid-2023, through consultation with industry and academic expert advisors, the Centre for Transformative Work Design launched a survey that was open to all workers in the Western Australian mining industry – including employees, contractors and labour hire workers. The three prior reports helped to build a strong foundation for the worker survey and interviews discussed below.
In order to reach a diverse group of mining workers, the research team liaised with industry peak bodies, employer associations, employee associations, unions and other relevant groups to recruit participants for the survey. The team also worked directly with companies who agreed to disseminate information via emails, posters and site briefings.
The confidential surveys were hosted online, with pen-and-paper surveys also made available to work sites and individual participants upon request.
In total, more than 2,500 people participated in the survey, representing the diverse range of the Western Australian mining population.
The research team also interviewed 60 mining workers to deeply explore their experiences at work.
In order to benchmark the mining sample against other industries, the team also surveyed a sample of workers in similar industries, including construction, agriculture, manufacturing, oil and gas and others.
What the industry had to say
From the findings released in March 2024, safety emerged as a key strength of the industry.
Most Western Australian mining workers reported high levels of safety behaviours, including engaging in core safety tasks and following procedures (safety compliance), and other proactive behaviours that develop an environment that promotes workplace safety (safety participation). The levels of safety behaviours reported by the mining sample was significantly higher than the benchmark sample, suggesting that mining workers are highly engaged with safety behaviours.
While low, the data suggests that the underreporting of notifiable safety incidents and near misses continues to exist, with respondents suggesting that one in three near misses in the past 12 months were unreported.
The findings also indicated that although burnout is not necessarily unique to the Western Australian mining industry, one in three mining workers reported high levels of burnout. Across Australia and the world, levels of burnout have been on an upward trend, particularly in a post-COVID-19 environment.
Efforts to stem increasing burnout and improve mental well-being must involve everyone and should focus on the prevention of harm, such as by designing work with tolerable work loads and reasonable levels of job autonomy.
Bullying and sexual harassment in the industry
Finally, an insight that the results offered is that overall levels of bullying and sexual harassment are high in the Western Australian mining sector.
Looking firstly at bullying, 16 per cent of workers reported having experienced bullying, while 22 per cent reported having witnessed bullying at least two to three times per month in the past six months.
While it is undeniable that these numbers are too high, bullying appears to be less prevalent compared to a study of Western Australian FIFO workers conducted in 2018, suggesting that there has been a positive shift in the past five years. Despite this progress, more needs to be done to understand if this pattern is a true reflection of the shifting landscape in Western Australian mining.
Secondly, turning to experiences of sexual harassment, covert forms of sexual harassment – such as behaviours that communicate denigrating, demeaning or hostile attitudes based on gender or sex – are common, especially for women. For example, the most common behaviour experienced by female mining workers was being put down or being condescended to (41 per cent), followed by offensive sexist remarks (e.g., suggestions that people of their sex are not suited for the kind of work they do – 34 per cent).
In contrast, the most common behaviour experienced by male mining workers was receiving crude and offensive sexual remarks, with 11 per cent of male mining workers reporting those experiences in the past year.
Regardless of gender, these covert forms of sexual harassment have been found to be more prevalent than the more overt forms of sexual harassment (which include behaviours such as unwanted touching, sexual assault, and being coerced into exchanging sexual favours for professional rewards or threats of professional harm).
While these covert forms of sexual harassment are sometimes brushed off as a ‘harmless bit of fun’, the data shows that the impact that these experiences has on peoples’ mental health is almost as detrimental as the more overt forms of sexual harassment.
What can we do about it?
The research identified that the main contributors to improving mental health and well-being and nurturing a culture of respect were factors at the organisational and job level.
Importantly, when workers have a shared belief that their companies and workplaces value and prioritise the mental health and well-being of all workers (what is known as psychosocial safety climate), this is linked to experiencing mental health and well- being at work, as well as lowered rates of bullying and sexual harassment. In other words, feeling that worker well-being is genuinely important to senior management has important and far-reaching positive impacts on creating healthier working cultures which, in turn, encourages people to treat each other with more empathy and to speak up if they need help, or notice that others may need support.
One interviewee said, “that’s been quite a big shift that I’ve noticed in recent years – there’s a lot more acceptance and encouragement for people to support their mental well-being at work”.
Leaders can demonstrate their commitment to mental health at work by creating a work environment that is free from stigma, promoting a culture that encourages people to speak up, and actively seeking questions and feedback.
The research further identified that the way that work is structured and organised (also known as work design) is another important contributor to improving mental health and well-being and nurturing a culture of respect for one another. For example, a positive work design involves ensuring that workers have tolerable workloads, that they understand goals and processes, are empowered to make decisions around when and how they complete their work, and that they have rosters designed to support their mental health (such as shorter and even-time rosters).
Rather than addressing mental health and well-being reactively as issues arise, designing good work is a proactive way of preventing harm towards workers.
Effective work design reduces job stress, burnout, absenteeism, turnover and other negative mental health outcomes, whilst also boosting job satisfaction, thriving and other positive well-being indicators.
Projects underway addressing these issues
As part of the State Government’s investment in the MARS Program, several initiatives are being rolled out which potentially can help to address the results from these findings.
While not an exhaustive list, some example initiatives include:
Thrive at Work in Mining Masterclass Series
This series guides senior leaders through the evidence-based Thrive at Work Framework to unpack how mining workplaces can support all employees’ mental health and well-being, to get well, stay well and be the best they can be.
Respect in Mining Program
This initiative provides organisations with a set of tools, resources and supporting implementation guides to assist them
to embed gender equality policies to benefit all employees.
Thriving in Mining
This is a series of online and face-to-face training modules aiming to build more respectful workplace cultures and support for mental health and well-being.
MATES in Mining
This is a World Health Organisation- recognised best practice suicide prevention and mental health peer support program, with MATES in Mining focused on the unique needs of the mining industry. MATES focuses on site training and education to empower workers to manage mental health within the workforce.
Resourceful Mind
This is a program tailored to the resources sector that trains people to become peer supporters and to support each other in the workplace.
Other mining companies are also implementing various initiatives, with the aim to continually build a safer and more respectful environment.
Key takeaways from the results
Physical safety has been a core focus of the safety critical Western Australian mining industry for many years. However, in more recent years – particularly in the past decade – the industry has shifted to a more holistic approach to safety and well-being for all workers, including a stronger focus on mental health and well-being.
Still more recently, this scope has expanded to include the eradication of disrespectful behaviours such as bullying and sexual harassment (which includes sexual assault). Aligned with the historical developments of the Western Australian mining industry’s focus on these aspects, the research findings reflect the varying stages of maturity of these three focus areas in the Western Australian mining industry.
There are clear strengths in the industry, most notably around workers embracing and integrating safety behaviours into their work lives. The research suggests that the sector has come some way. The industry has demonstrated that it is capable of significant positive change, but the proof will be in the pudding.
In 2025, The Centre for Transformative Work Design will rerun the survey and interviews to understand the impacts of efforts that have been made and report back on how things are tracking within the industry.
To stay up to date on this research, visit curtin.edu/mars-lms
Image: Magnifical Productions/shutterstock.com
