Three fly-in, fly-out workers have taken their own lives in the three months a WA parliamentary inquiry has worked to establish the mental health impacts of the industry.
The inquiry, by the Education and Health Standing Committee, has centred on the emotional and mental pitfalls of FIFO work including fatigue caused by "high-compression rosters", amid reports of nine suicides in 12 months.
In releasing the committee's interim discussion paper Shining a Light on FIFO Mental Health on Thursday, committee chairman Graham Jacobs said concerns had been raised about the "system of work" in the industry, roster structure, hazards and family separation.
The committee heard that workers had failed to take anti-depressant medication, afraid that routine drug testing would uncover the drugs and there was concern about the pervasive fear of the "window seat" – a widespread term for losing their job.
"What we have seen is characteristics in the mining industry, social disconnection, family disconnection – the whole concern and issue of the high-compression rosters and that produces fatigue within the industry and the inability of people in a FIFO situation to de-stress," said Dr Jacobs, a former Mental Health Minister.
"I've been asked where we're going with this inquiry. We are about actually saving lives and I don't say that flippantly.
"Since the inquiry has been on foot...there has been a suicide each month – three suicides since this inquiry has been commissioned, so that is a concern for us."
The committee has examined whether mental health hazards in the mining industry needed to be better addressed in line with physical hazards.
Dr Jacobs said the mining industry had responded after physical safety mishaps and was confident the industry would also response in a similar way to emotional health and wellbeing issues, including suicide.
The inquiry drew 70 submissions and held 12 hearings.
He said the FIFO industry employed 67,000 workers – about 60 per cent of all people employed in the resource industry. That number has increased markedly since 2008 when 40 per cent of the resource industry was FIFO.
Dr Jacobs FIFO workers were mostly men, aged between 25 and 44 years old.
"That cohort of people that are employed, 25-44 year olds, predominantly male, are just the cohort that has the higher incidence of mental health in the community," he said.
He said there appeared no silver bullet for the "ideal roster", although swings should be equivalent to time spent at home to minimise mental health impacts.
"Rosters are here to stay and FIFO is here to stay, but it's about how you make this system of work more safe as far as emotional health and wellbeing.
"The four weeks on, one week off is potentially a roster that causes high compression and high fatigue."
He said the committee would visit mine sites, mining operations and associated accommodation facilities to see first-hand before delivering a final report, including their findings, in mid-2016.
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said mental health and wellbeing was broader than the number of suicides and was impacted by several factors, including quality of family and social supports, financial status and individual issues.
"This makes responsibility for mental health issues a shared one – for individuals, government, community and industry," Mr Howard-Smith said.
He said there had been changes including a variety in FIFO rosters, improvements in mine-site accommodation and employee assistance, including free counselling, buddy systems, health programs and in-room internet to communicate with family.
The WA discussion paper follows an extensive Federal parliamentary inquiry into FIFO practices delivered in 2013, which ran for 18 months, received hundreds of submissions, visited numerous sites and held dozens of public hearings.
The paper can be found at www.parliament.wa.gov.au/ehsc
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
