Mining and Health

Lifestyles and health of the Western Australian mining community

Susan Clifford is investigating the positive and negative aspects of working in the WA mining industry. Employees and partners have discussed their experiences of 12 hour shifts, night shifts and Fly-in/Fly-out travelling, and the impacts that these working arrangements had on their stress levels, lifestyle, relationships and health.

There are around 50,000 mining employees in Western Australia; many working on Fly-in/Fly-out contracts and demanding work rosters.  The mining industry pays well but overseas research shows that working conditions can affect the lifestyle and health of miners, their partners and their families. This is one of the first projects to investigate the impacts of mining working arrangements on Western Australians.

The recruiting phase of the project ended in July 2008, with over 200 people participating in the project. The data is currently being analysed and the results will be available in late 2008. If you would like a copy of the study results, please contact Susan Clifford (sclifford@anhb.uwa.edu.au; (08) 6488 2712) or her supervisor Neville Bruce (nbruce@anhb.uwa.edu.au; (08) 6488 3292).
             

This study is being conducted by Susan Clifford and supervised by Neville Bruce and Kathy Sanders, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia.  It has been approved by the UWA Human Research Ethics Committee.