By Courtney Pearson
September 11, 2015
FOUR out of five Queensland fly in, fly out (FIFO) and residential resources industry workers were happy with where they live and rated their physical and mental health highly, according to the Queensland Resources Council (QRC).
The QRC found that the majority of 1832 workers surveyed were happy with their current arrangements as drive in, drive out (DIDO) or FIFO employees; 85 per cent of the state’s resources industry workers rated their physical and mental health and quality of life as excellent, very good or good.
“What we see from this survey conducted by URS Australia is that the majority of Queensland resource sector workers are happy with their current arrangement to live either in towns with proximity to their work or live further away and commute by car, bus or plane,” QRC chief executive Michael Roche said.
“But the important message from workers is that they want to have the choice and they don’t want that choice taken away from them.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to worker accommodation.”
The survey questioned 640 resident workers and 1192 non-resident workers, which included FIFO, DIDO and bus in, bus out staff.
Workers were more satisfied with accommodation arrangements this year (83 per cent) compared to the 2011 survey (64 per cent) when the mining boom peaked.
A WA parliamentary committee investigating the mental health impact of FIFO work found that FIFO operations could lead to a higher risk of mental health issues.
Queensland is undertaking its own FIFO inquiry, with results due in September.
In fiscal2014 the resources industry represented 20 per cent of jobs in Queensland.
